Onmyōza Hyakumonogatari Story VIII "Ninja Scroll of Slumber"

(Madoromi ninpōchō begins at 09:07)

The woman was a kunoichi. Carrying out her mission, she had succeeded in killing the target in his sleep, but had been seriously wounded while escaping and was now hiding in a nearby mountain forest in a half-conscious state. The wound was deep and she was bleeding do death. Once she realized that she did not have long to live, seemingly accepting her fate, she gazed into the sky and slowly closed her eyes with a peaceful expression on her face that resembled a smile. She could no longer feel the coldness of the ground nor the breath of the wind that made the grass tickle her cheeks. It felt as if her body had melted and was merging into them. Just like the ground does not feel the ground and like the wind does not feel the wind.

Without realizing it, she was thinking back on her life as a kunoichi. Using her feminine assets, literally selling her body she had completed her missions. She had never given it a second thought, but now that she was about to die, what she felt was relief of finally being free. It was strange how she felt no pain or anguish. From the bottom of her heart, she felt how lucky she was to earn such a peaceful death, as in the world of the shinobi no one mourns for you when you die.

Finally, as all of her strength drained from her, inside her muddled mind she silently whispered: "So this is how I die," and to take a last look at the world, she tried to open her eyes. Her eyelids felt heavy and her vision was so blurred that she could not even tell whether she had opened her eyes or not. What she saw there, she could not believe. Someone who could not possibly have been there was standing before her. A man she had grown up with in the same ninja village as herself. The man she was in love with. In a split second she understood that what she was seeing was an illusion, but still she tried frantically to see his face. Did she really see it, or was it only in her mind? She could not tell, but it looked as if the man had smiled just a little.

陰陽座百物語　第捌話「微睡忍法帖」

その女はくノ一だった。ある任務に就き、目指す標的の寝首を掻く事には成功したのだが、脱出する際に深手を負い、朦朧とする意識の儘、近くの山林に身を隠していた。傷は深く、流れ出る血は止めども無かった。自らの命がもう長くは持たない事を悟った女は観念した様に天を仰ぎ、微笑みすら浮かべた様な穏やかな表情の儘、ゆっくりと瞳を閉じた。身体を預ける土の冷たさも、頬をくすぐる風や草木の息吹きすらも、女にはもう感じる事は出来なかった。その感覚は丸で身体が溶けて自然とそれらに混ざっていく様だった。土が土を感じず、風が風を感じない様に。

くノ一として生きた己の人生を女は無意識に思い返していた。女としての武器を使い、文字通り身を鬻いで任務を遂行する。その事に疑問を思った事は無かったが、死を前にした今、そこに有るのは　やっと解放されるという思いばかりだった。不思議なくらい痛みや苦しみは無かった。女は命を落としても弔う者すらない様な忍びの世界でこんな安らかな死を得られる自分は幸せだと心から思った。

いよいよ全身の力が抜け、混濁する意識の中で「嗚呼、これが最期か」と呟いて、この世の最後の見納めにと女は目を開けようとした。瞼が重く、目を開けたのかどうか自分でも判断が付かないぐらい、その視界が霞んでいたが、女はそこに信じられないものを見た。それは此処に居るはずの無い同じ忍びの里で育ち、想いを寄せ合っていた男が自分を見守る様にそこに佇んでいる姿だった。幻だ！と女は一瞬で理解したが、それでもその顔を必死に見つめようとした。それが視界なのか、意識なのかも区別出来ない儘、男は本の少し微笑んでいた。