Heheh, hey everyone. So...this was a fast update. Haha, don't expect it to always be this fast though. This was one of the few times that I was able to publish a chapter sooner than expected. Anyways, for anyone who hasn't been reading my continuing updates on chapter 7, this is the first chapter in a subset of short chapters (Sunshine in the Morning is what I'm calling them for now) that I'm writing to give myself a little time to change a few things on my story without having to sacrifice giving you guys content.

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Review Responses! Oh man, I love reading my reviews. I always laugh my ass off reading them.

the renegade soldier: I have two things to say. First of all, you read my mind. I can't tell you how or what, but you did. Second, I'm extremely happy you're enjoying the fanservice. I guess I'm just good at writing it? I don't like to brag, so you'll have to tell me. Haha!

Satanic Park Of Madness: Okay, so I did a little bit of research, and I found out that the third rebuild movie actually has been released in the west. FINALLY! They certainly took forever getting that dub fixed. Also, the Eva manga I think ended a couple years ago? I'd have to check again. I read about it and it went on for quite awhile!

As for the next cooking contest. Yeah. They're probably gonna be in swimsuits. Everyone is gonna be in swimsuits that chapter. Lots of room for delicious fanservice!

Also, about Ritsuko and Maya. If you're a fan of them, this chapter is going to be about them. This chapter takes place the morning after the Halloween party.

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I present to everyone the first chapter of Sunshine in the Morning.

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Text Guide

Standard Wording

"Spoken Dialogue/Speech"

'Internal Dialogue/Thoughts'

(Flashbacks)

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[Slash denotes scene transition for the moment; this may be changed in the future so as to become more visible.]

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Disclaimer: I do not own or profit off of Neon Genesis Evangelion, End Of Evangelion, or the Rebuilds of Evangelion. I do not own Shinji Ikari, Rei Ayanami, Asuka Langley Sohryu, or any of the other characters/ideas from the Evangelion intellectual property collective. All licenses remain with the proper license holders. If asked to, I will formally remove this story from the hosting website.

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*Cruel Angel's Thesis and Eva intro starts playing*


Neon Genesis Evangelion

A Journey of Hate, Power, and Love

Sunshine in the Morning

The Ballad of the Faux Blonde

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Ritsuko Akagi was not usually a party girl. She certainly had the capacity to party hard when she wanted, but she'd left those days behind in college. And even when she was still a student at the New Japanese National College Academy in Tokyo-2, she usually did not party unless Misato gave her no other options. There were a few choice instances where she'd managed to break free of her studious restraints. But she usually opted out so that she could work towards graduating and securing her future.

But that left one big question.

As Ritsuko woke and raised her heavy head off the cold floor of the NERV wreck room, she wondered just how she, out of all people, had somehow managed to be so hungover after an innocent Halloween party.

"Damn it, I need some analgesics. My head is pounding."

She lifted her arm and wiped away some drool with the sleeve of her lab coat and then looked at her watch.

"Damn. It's already nine in the morning."

She shivered after reading the time but, instead of attempting to stand, chose to crawl over to the wall only a few feet away from her so that she might be able to rest against it and analyze her surroundings.

After gently leaning her head on the wall, she looked over the wreck room. It didn't seem even half as occupied as it was last night. The majority of the party-goers must have gone home last night.

There were a few select characters who were still around. Misato was passed out on the couch in the center of the room. Shinji and Rei leaned against each other in their sleep, sharing the same couch as Misato. And Asuka was lightly snoring on her own couch, separate from the others. All of them were still dressed in their Halloween costumes.

A couple of the other staff seemed to be having some of the leftover food for their breakfast. A few others were talking quietly in one of the far corners of the room. But, other than that, the room was mostly empty.

Ritsuko looked up at the blank white ceiling before closing her eyes and sighing.

"I need to ask Misato what happened last night."

She then let her head fall into her hands and groaned.

"Right after I get rid of this splitting headache."

Ritsuko prepared to stand up and go to her office to get some painkillers, but as she moved her hands to the floor, she felt something soft underneath her palm.

She opened her eyes and quietly gasped at what she saw.

Resting on the floor was Ritsuko's loyal apprentice, Maya. She was unconscious. Her uniform had been unbuttoned in a few places, exposing the top and bottom of her bra. Her skirt was twisted around her waist some and one of her shoes was missing.

Ritsuko started to panic. Maya always seemed like such an innocent girl. While being around Misato had somewhat desensitized Ritsuko to exposure to the female body, it was still somewhat awkward seeing Maya of all people in a state like this. It wasn't explicit by any means, but this was the most lewd she'd ever seen her protégé.

She poked the girl, trying to get her to wake up. Luckily for Ritsuko, Maya didn't seem to be a very deep sleeper. The young lady shivered and then her eyes drowsily fluttered open before she shut them tightly again.

Ritsuko put her hand on the girl's shoulder and gently shook her.

"No, mother. I don't…I'm not ready to go to work yet…" she mumbled in response.

"Lieutenant Ibuki, this is your employer speaking. Not your mother."

Maya's eyes shot wide open and she jumped up and saluted at the doctor.

"Ma'am! Yes, Ma'am! Lieutenant Ibuki reporting for duty," she shouted. The young lieutenant blushed as her eyes met with Ritsuko.

Ritsuko laughed uneasily.

"You know, Maya. You should stop being so uptight. I wouldn't exactly call this a formal setting."

"Yes, Ma'am! I will st-stop- Wait. You think I'm uptight?"

Ritsuko sighed before chuckling some.

"Yes, Maya. Look at where we are. And look at how proper you're being. We're in the aftermath of what was surly a disastrous party; not a board meeting. You're uptight."

"Disastrous, huh…" Maya said as she rested her arms at her side and looked at the ground depressingly.

"Yeah. Disastrous. Misato probably drugged the drinks with date rape drugs and had an orgy with our pilots."

Maya silently gasped and put her hands over her mouth.

"I-I don't think Captain Katsuragi would do that. I mean, surely she wouldn't."

Ritsuko found Maya's missing shoe, picked it up, and smirked at it.

"It was a joke, but it's not terribly far from reality," Ritsuko sighed before standing up and tossing Maya her shoe, "That aside, I'm really hungry right now. But, I don't think I'm good to drive at the moment. Maya, how much alcohol did you consume last night?"

"Oh, well, um… Not a lot. It was only my second time drinking. I can't hold my liqueur very well. So, I mostly just stick to beer. I did drink more than I did last time though…But, I'm sure I'd be fine to drive."

"Good, because I'm not in the mood to be eating breakfast out of the vending machines."

Ritsuko made for the door with Maya timidly following her.

"Ugh, I can't feel my tongue," The false blonde complained as she stepped out of the wreck room.

/

-Two for a Pair-

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"You know, you could have told me my shirt was unbuttoned." Ritsuko said as she stepped into the humid parking lot above the geofront.

Tokyo-3 had managed to catch a lot of rain last night. And the humidity certainly was not helping with the Doctor's headache. A moist sweltering breeze brushed past Ritsuko's numb lips.

"S-same goes for you ma'am," Maya retorted with a blush.

"I suppose so… but you were still covered for the most part. On the other hand, almost everyone saw my entire brassiere. God, I feel almost as bad as Misato. So unprofessional," Ritsuko raised her hand to move some of her hair out of her face, "Still…I guess it wasn't as bad as it seems. Everyone has already seen me dive into the LCL in the Eva cages when I do repairs. I always wear a swimsuit for that so, I guess it isn't that different…And today is pretty humid. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to take a couple layers off.

Maya's face grew very red. Luckily, she was behind Ritsuko and the Blonde didn't notice.

The young NERV technician and the Doctor continued across the parking lot until they both reached the little red car that belonged to Maya. It was a tight fit, but at least the inside of the car wasn't humid.

Maya started the car, and the little four cylinder engine stuttered and coughed before finding a steadiness for its pistons to run with.

"So, um…wh-where did you have in mind, M-Ma'am? For breakfast I m-m-mean," Maya stuttered like her starting car.

"Maya, you seem really on edge."

Ritsuko glanced at her assistant. She was staring at her steering wheel with furrowed brows, her hands where red from the tight grip she held the wheel with, and her shoulders where tense and high; almost rising up enough to meet her jawline.

"Hey, Maya?"

The girl didn't respond.

"Maya?"

The young woman's lips started to tremble but she still said nothing.

"Lieutenant Ibuki!"

Maya finally jerked her head to the side and looked at her mentor. However, she still didn't say anything as a blushed spread under her skin.

"Maya? Is there something…wrong?" Ritsuko asked as her eyebrows slowly changed from confused to concerned.

"N-no. I just had…a really good night. …That's all."

Ritsuko's eyebrows once again portrayed confusion.

"Doctor Akagi-"

"Ritsuko. Just call me Ritsuko."

"Ritsuko…Do you remember anything from last night? Anything at all?"

The Doctor looked up in thought and listened to the humming of the car engine before sighing.

"No…not really. No. I mean, I remember some of it. But, not much. I imagine that's probably because of Misato."

"It, uh…it was because of the Captain. Yes."

"What did she do? Drug my drink?" Ritsuko asked as she started to cringe, fearing the worst.

"No…she, um…she…well, you see-"

"Maya, would you just spit it out?"

"Sorry! Yes, Ma'am! She made you drink a…pretty big bottle of something…I think it was rum I think is what she said."

"…And…how did she make me drink a bottle of rum?"

Ritsuko was starting to get very confused. She would probably need to launch a full scale investigation after breakfast.

"Well…she…had…Makoto and Shigeru take you hostage-"

"Take me hostage!?" Ritsuko asked, obviously astounded.

"Y-y-yes, Ma'am."

"Well, I'm going to have words with them when I get back."

Maya was unsure if she should continue, but Ritsuko was still looking at her expectantly for the rest of what would surely be a terrible recounting of what happened last night.

"After they…took you hostage, they sat you down in a chair and Captain Katsuragi kind of…forced you to…um…"

"Oh my god. Oh, Maya, please tell me I didn't do anything stupid after that."

"You threw the bottle at Captain Katsuragi, but you almost hit Mister Kaji."

Ritsuko could feel her headache coming back and she put her face in her hands.

"Anything else?" the false blonde groaned.

"Um…well…not exactly."

"What do you mean not exactly?" Ritsuko groaned for a second time.

"Well, it…it doesn't matter. You don't remember it. I don't think anyone else saw or even cared. So, I'm the only one who knows."

"Maya," Ritsuko sighed, "If it involved me, I need to know. If I did something stupid, the commander will probably chew my ass off and I'd rather take responsibility for it than be called to his office and not know what it's about."

"Oh, well, I mean. It's really not that important," Maya said, trying to blow the question off.

"Then why did you bring it up?"

"Because it was important to me…"

Maya stared at the Doctor with a blush, and Ritsuko stared back at her awkwardly. The silence went on for a good ten seconds before Ritsuko very cautiously spoke.

"What exactly is that supposed to mean? Did I hurt you?"

"No, not really," Maya said shyly.

"Maya, please. If I said something that upset you…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

"Don't worry, Doctor Akagi. You didn't say anything that hurt me," Maya said as her lips started trembling and tears started falling out of her eyes.

Ritsuko leaned over and gently pulled her student into an embrace.

"Maya, please tell me what's wrong."

"No. You'd be angry at me."

"Maya, I'm not going to be angry. I might be surprised or shocked, but I'm not going to be angry at you for something that happened last night. It was probably an accident."

"I wish…I wish it wasn't an accident," the young lady wept into Ritsuko's shirt.

"Maya, please. You have to tell me what is going on. I can't make it better unless you tell me," Ritsuko said as she pushed the girl back a little so that she could look into her eyes.

She sniffled some and wiped her eyes with her balled fists.

"Ritsuko…Ritsuko! Please don't be mad!" Maya said as she fell back into the doctor's arms, "We kissed! We kissed and we might have done some other things too!"

"Wait, what?" Ritsuko said as she once again pushed the crying woman out of her arms.

"It wasn't anything too bad! I swear! It was more than kissing but it wasn't really bad! I promise!"

Ritsuko covered her eyes with her right hand and sighed.

"Oh god. What's the Commander going to think?"

"No, Ritsuko, please. No one needs to know. He doesn't need to know. It shouldn't matter to him."

"Maya, you don't understand. I've…I've been sleeping with him. So, it kind of might matter to him. I don't know. He doesn't always seem into it. But I just…I don't know." Ritsuko said as she sighed once again.

Maya stopped crying and looked at Ritsuko with curiosity and sadness.

"You're…you're dating the Commander?"

"No. No. Maya, no. It's nothing that romantic. At least, I don't think it is. But…he likes to have a handle on things, you know? He's a powerful man and he likes knowing he's in control. I don't know how he'd feel about…about us."

"About us? …So…you're not against…us?"

"I, um…I guess not," Ritsuko said with a bashful smile.

"R-really?!"

"I mean…if what you say is true…we did kiss last night. So, I guess…I'm not exactly against it."

"I'm so sorry, Ritsuko. I should have controlled myself. Even if you're okay with it, I should have been more respectful of you. I should have made sure you were sober before we did anything. But…it's just…I never really realized it before, but the world could end any day now. And, I've had feelings for you for a while. And, when you came up to me last night and started flirting with me. Oh, god. It was like a dream come true and I-"

Ritsuko leaned over and softly kissed the flustered young technician on her lips. After they separated, Ritsuko giggled seeing how red the young lady's face had become.

"Hey," Ritsuko said sweetly, "let's go get breakfast and we'll talk about it then."

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*Eva credits roll and Fly Me to the Moon plays*

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