MOONLIGHT NINJA

MOONLIGHT NINJA CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 4

Li Lei Shuang felt utterly hopeless despite the beautiful song of the spring wind in her garden; she felt as if that fate had been extremely unfair. Adding to her despair was her solitude for Yan Mei Ling had forgotten to visit her today.

Li Lei Shuang had inquired several times to her maidservants if Yan Mei Ling had come to visit but to her utter dismay, her best friend hadn't. It was simply unusual of Yan Mei Ling to forget visiting her every day because it was what her best friend had been doing for many years - Yan Mei Ling did not even bother sending her a letter to explain her absence.

A stray flower darted on Li Lei Shuang's face as she wiped the tears forming from eyes. She felt extremely lonely ever since her father had told her of Lord Hsien Mao Dong's demand so that a war would not break.

A heartbroken sob formed deep from her heart, the thought of war along with its ruthless violence and its tremendous bloodshed terrified her so much - she loved the empire and its people.

Her father would never succumb to Lord Hsien Mao Dong's demand but then she was prepared to sacrifice everything for the Empire. She would do anything even if it means compelling her life to a loathsome and loveless marriage to an old and ugly barbarian.

'All of the males o the Hsien clan are nasty perverts - they had plundered several states and raped all of the woman they could see be they toothless or not. There are actually a widespread suicide of women who survived after being raped by the Hsien clan probably because no woman could live up to the shame brought by those filthy and ugly pigs. He had several wives and mistresses, and he made each of his woman's life a living hell!' Li Lei Shuang remembered Yan Mei Ling's hideous description of the Hsein clan.

If Yan Mei Ling's description about the Hsien clan was true, then Lord Hsien Mao Dong would certainly be a terrible husband.

Ghastly hopelessness pervaded Li Lei Shuang which left her no hope to cling upon. As tears dulled her eyes, a vision of fallen empire, lying corpses of the innocents and crying people came to her.

She cried harder feeling terribly defeated by the demons of her mind and for knowing that she was trapped. She had no right to put herself first because it only meant the death of more people. She even doubted if her father's army had a chance against the Hsein clan.

'They have gone stronger after incorporating a lot of feudal states.' The hopeless words of father came to taunt her.

"Oh, no," she sobbed harder - everything seemed hopeless no matter where she looked at. She had to tell her father that she already made her decision. But before incarcerating herself to an extremely bitter fate, she had to see Mei Ling, for all days before her dreaded day would finally come. "Oh, Yan Mei Ling, where are you? I need you."

°°°°°°

Yan Mei Ling along with her maidservant, Yeng, passed outside the enormous gates of the Imperial palace but she deliberately walked past it.

"Are we not going inside the Imperial Palace, my lady?" Yeng asked, there was wonder in her voice.

Yan Mei Ling wearily shook her head though from the look in her eyes, going inside the imperial palace was what she really wanted to do. "No, let's go straight to the town, Yeng. We will find out when is going to be the next fight of the Ninja boy."

"As you wish, my lady"

As they walked away from the gates of the Imperial Palace, Yan Mei Ling felt extremely lonely; she also felt guilty - guilty over the things she felt for her best friend and guilty for taking the coward's way of not showing up without any explanation. But she had no choice; staying away was the only known sensible solution to avoid falling deeply in love with her best friend.