<div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/f/fd/Tumblr_mper58vGve1rdyxo7o1_1280.jpg)</div><strong>Jessica Hitomi Washington/"Atemi"</strong>(https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-oVojFRbWcIQF5x_Rqu13WHA7flOUPRlAMfhpoHecd0/edit)<br/><br/>Gregory Washington was a consummate Japanophile.  His wife, Naomi, practically had to wrestle with him to keep him from giving his daughter the first name Hitomi.  They came up with a compromise.  Jessica—for Naomi's grandmother as her personal name—with Greg's favorite name for her middle name.<br/><br/>Along with being a gamer and a fan fiction writer, Greg made a career in the army.  He always pushed for posts in Japan.  This wasn't just for his fandom, he had a martial arts sensei in Tokyo whom he loved studying under.  He learned kenjutsu, aikijutsu, and atemi under the man.  He taught these skills to Jessica and—during their years on base in Tokyo, she joined him.<br/><br/>Jessica spent a lot of time with her family growing up, her parents and  her younger sisters, twins named   Adele and Madison.  Not only were they a lot of fun, she knew she wouldn't move away from them in two years or less.  She studied hard and graduated from a high school in El Paso as valedictorian.  Her father was so proud he was going to buy her a very nice car, 'til he discovered something he knew she'd love even more.<br/><br/>With the help of an art dealer, he was able to acquire an authentic katana.  The art dealer who sold it to him could show evidence that it had been wielded by one of the 47 ronin.<br/><br/>Even at 21,000 dollars, he got it for a steal.  When other art dealers confirmed the authentication, Greg assumed the dealer was covering up some damage it had suffered.  The rumor that it was haunted was ridiculous.<br/><br/>Jessica loved the gift so much she cried in her cap and gown in front of the whole school.<br/><br/>With a full scholarship to the university in Peninsula City, Jessica had for the first time in her life a chance to be in one place for more than a year or two.  She declared a double major in creative writing and computer science.  She wasn't sure how to get close to people.  She sometimes confided to some online friends that she would go to other dorm rooms and play video games, or to the anime club, and feel alone in the middle of it all.<br/><br/>Some online friends assured her that she'd work through it in time, it was easy to be shy when your social environment changed dramatically.  She took heart and kept trying to be social, but on the inside, she fell deeper and deeper into her dreams.  (They made great short story fodder!)   She found herself a samurai in feudal japan, living the life of a former wielder of the katana, fighting battles both mundane and mythic.  She wielded her katana against other samurai, gaijin, and ogres.<br/><br/>Her katana, and lightning cast from her hands!<br/><br/>In her dreams, the power grew, like the fury of a storm in her nerves.  Sometimes, she thought she could feel the charge building in her when she touched the katana.<br/><br/>Near the end of her first year, with the stress of finals bearing down on her, the dreams became so vivid she would wake up feeling electricity pulsing in her fingers.  In the middle of a terific lightning storm, Jessica woke in the wee hours of the morning.  She ran out onto the quad in a man's shirt and panties, carrying the katana.  She drew it and—for the first time—wielded it, performing advanced forms in the sheeting down rain.<br/><br/>Jessi felt like she was going to burst.  She danced through the forms faster and faster, feeling like lightning was arching through her body.<br/><br/>When she threw back her head and screamed, katana out to the side in one hand, Jessi didn't know if the lightning struck her from the heavens, or arched form her body into the sky.<br/><br/><em>Yes,</em>a man's voice whispered into her soul.<em>Like that, Hitomi-chan.  Finally, someone strong enough to inherit my power...</em><br/>