Okay, so, this took way longer than I wanted to get out. (Just like always. *sighs*) I've been in and out of the hospital but that should be over soon hopefully. Hopefully... I just realized I say hopefully a lot. Hopefully, that'll be a habit I can break.

I suppose I should do some review responses before I'm put back under. Hahaha. Oh god, I'm already getting dizzy again. I hope I can finish typing this.

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Mike Kromer: Haha, yes. Maya and Ritz are very good to go! They're gonna have a story arc in this. In fact, almost every significant Eva character is going to have a part in this story in some way. It's mostly going to focus on Shinji, Asuka, Rei, and Misato. But, there's oh so many juicy bits to be had when you throw everyone else in the mix too. And, I'd rather not skip out on them, especially since they all give me a way to add a little bit of my own twists and flavor to this story, as you'll see in this chapter and as you saw in chapter 6 with Kyoko. Every character is a way for me to add a little more to my version of Evangelion and I will try my absolute best to get as much out of them as I can. Gosh, talking about the future of this story gets me so excited.

The-Mrning-Star: I kicked you in the feels? Oh, well, I'm sorry. Actually, I'm not because if you feel for this story, that's hopefully a sign that I'm doing a good job. Okay, Actually, I'm kinda kidding. I'm sorry but I'm also not sorry. I hope your feels get better soon!

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Okay, so, this chapter is a little different and may be confusing at first. But, it should make sense nearer the end. It's somewhat akin to the Kyoko scenes in chapter six and wow, I can barely stay awake. Anyways, here's the second 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 Rogue

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It was a humid and foggy morning in a deep dark forest. The sun hadn't risen over the landscape as of yet, but the still air was almost eighty-five degrees as the moon set behind the horizon and the stars started to fade away.

A young man in a hooded robe crept through the thickets, the hair on his legs getting caught on bramble thorns that grabbed at him through the rips and tears in his dark brown cargo pants.

Strapped to the shoulder of his light brown robe was an old, worn, handheld radio. And around his chest was a bandolier with exactly seven twelve-gauge shotgun shells.

His face was obscured by a set of dirty black goggles and a black and tan checkered scarf that wrapped around his lower face.

His hands were covered by gray gloves, the fingers of which had been worn away long ago, exposing the young man's calloused fingertips to the elements, not that he minded too much. He currently held a handmade wooden bow in his left hand and over time, he had become rather fond of the feeling of it on his own skin.

His radio suddenly crackled to life, causing him to flinch. A female voice spoke through the static.

"Kaji? Kaji, are you there?"

The man sighed and clasped the radio in his right hand.

"I am. But our breakfast won't be if you don't keep it down."

"Oh, sorry. I was worried. You hadn't radioed in for an entire hour."

"Yeah, well, that's because I've been stalking for the past hour."

"Hey, how about you come back to camp? The sun's coming up. It'll be harder to spot the patrols from the other group without their flashlights signaling their position and I'd rather you not get in any altercations with them, especially with you being all alone."

"No. I've almost caught up with the bear. I'll be bac-"

"Excuse me? Did you say bear?"

"Duughhh, well, I mean…yeah?"

"Why? Why a bear?" the girl asked with a hint of anger.

"Ryobi, you know why. We can't be picky. We're living in the apocalypse. We've got to survive somehow."

"I thought survival entailed actually, you know, surviving. Staying alive. That whole thing. Fighting a bear sounds like a death sentence for you. You're still just a kid, Kaji. Just like me! I can't do this without you. And I don't know how your brother would take it if you died. Probably not well!"

"I'm not gonna die, Ryobi. I'll be careful."

"You better not! I…I need someone to be with me in my blankets at night. I need to know I'm safe."

"And how about fed? You need sustenance. And, if I can bring in this bear, we'll have enough food for two weeks at least."

Kaji heard the girl huff in indignation before she spoke again.

"How do you even expect to get the damn furball back to camp if you do somehow manage to kill it?"

"I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Tell my bro I'll be back soon."

"Yeah, okay… But one last thing."

"Yes, Ryobi?"

"I love you. Ryobi and Ryoji forever! Over and out," Kaji heard the girl giggle before the radio crackled one last time and then went silent.

Kaji pulled the scarf down off his face before sighing and quietly chuckling to himself, "Yeah. That's what they all say."

/

-Goodbye and Good Luck-

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The sun was just starting to rise over the horizon. The fog in the forest had begun to burn away and the dappled rays of sunlight beamed through the leaves onto the young, scruffy, bearded, jawline of Ryoji's face.

He had finally caught up with the bear, and upon examining it, he found it was a tsukinowaguma, a Japanese Black Bear. He'd remembered seeing them in the zoo when he was still a child. But, this was the first one he'd ever seen in the wild.

He warily eyed the white crescent fur on its chest before noticing the bear had two cubs with her. So pure. So innocent. But, in the world Kaji lived in, he couldn't afford to be picky. This was the only substantial food source he'd found in over a week and a half. He would have to kill the mother or he would leave his friends to starve in an uncertain future where there may or may not be food around the corner. And, time had taught him that, more often than not, that around the corner usually did not have food.

Having made up his mind, he pulled a hand crafted arrow out of a pocket on his backpack. It was a crude and rudimentary thing. Just a slab of shale tied to a branch with shoelace. It didn't even have any fletching on it and wasn't very sturdy, but it was all he had when it came to reusable projectiles. He nocked the arrow and took a deep breath.

He knew that the arrow probably wouldn't kill the bear. The shoestring would buffer the force of the arrowhead and prevent it from penetrating deep enough to be lethal. But, on the off chance that it did kill the bear, he'd rather have it be finished quickly and with the least amount of risk possible.

He let the arrow fly, but he knew...

He knew it wouldn't kill it.

Before the bear could turn around, Kaji dropped his bow and pulled a sawed-off Anson and Deeley Boxlock shotgun out from under his light brown cloak. And by the time the bear charged him, his finger was already prepared to do what had to be done next.

"Fuck," he muttered as he aimed at the beast's head and pulled the left trigger after the bear was less than four feet from him. It stumbled to the ground and rolled towards him, snapping the arrow he'd planted in its side moments earlier.

"Ugh, damn it. Now I only got one left," he groaned as he pulled the splintered branch out of the bear's body.

The bear's face was a bloody mess. Most of the right side of its face was gone or had deep craters.

"Damn it… I can't believe I just did that," he said as he fell to his knees in the growing puddle of blood before him.

He felt sick. This wasn't the first time he'd encountered the harsh world that came after second impact, but he feared he'd never grow use to this. While he wasn't a vegetarian, killing animals really wasn't something he ever enjoyed doing.

He looked at the two cubs. They stared silently at him in the morning light. They were so young. So frightened. Or maybe they weren't. Maybe they didn't even know what just happened. Maybe they didn't know that their mother was lying dead inches from Kaji's feet. Maybe they were in shock. It all happened so fast. Even Kaji himself wasn't sure she was dead.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to the two bear cubs.

He contemplated what to do next. Should he kill the cubs? Would that be humane? Surely they wouldn't survive. They'd probably starve to death, and Kaji knew from experience that starving was not pleasant.

But he was already so sick with himself. Could he really bring himself to take another life today?

A few tears streaked down the young man's face and pooled at the bottom of his goggles, even though he tried so hard to hold it back. But, he wouldn't get the chance to cry in peace.

Across the clearing, he heard a few branches snap. Kaji looked up, hoping that it was the cubs running from him so that he wouldn't have to decide the remainder of their fate. But what he saw was easily one of the worst things you could encounter after second impact.

A man walked out from behind a large bush. He wore a torn black vest with a white shirt underneath it and he had a long gray beard.

"You kill that thing all by yourself, kid?"

Kaji, got back to his feet as fast as he could and aimed his double-barreled shotgun at the man.

"Whoa! Easy, kid. I'm not here to hurt anyone. I just heard the gun go off 'n got a little… curious. That's all."

Kaji smirked at the man.

"So, you go running towards gunshots when you hear 'em? Pretty stupid if you ask me. People nowadays will kill you just so they don't have to take a chance. And here you are gambling your chances away."

The man shrugged.

"I suppose that's true. But, sometimes the gamble is worth it if you meet a new friend. The only way to survive is if you got a group."

"Yeah?" Kaji asked as he raised his eyebrow, "Then where's your group. I assume this isn't the first time you've gambled your life on a chance at friendship. So where are your people? If other people are the only way to survive, THEN WHERE ARE YOUR PEOPLE?"

"Whoa! Calm down, kid. I don't have any people right now. That's why I'm looking for a new group. That's why I come running every time I hear a gunshot."

"Sounds like a great way to lose everything you got."

The man chuckled and pointed his finger at Kaji

"Hahaha, that's where you're wrong kid. Y'see, I don't got anything left to loose. If a group stumbles on another group, they fight. They always fight. They kill each other because they know they can take what the other group has. But, when it's just you or me; when it's just one man, they don't kill him. You know why?"

Kaji remained silent and glared at the man. He then glanced at the bear cubs, who were completely still between him and the man, before he returned his focus to the man.

"They don't kill him because," the man continued, "he doesn't have anything to take. And they know that they can use him and he can contribute to the group. And that is why they don't kill him."

"And that's where you're wrong. I'll kill you right here and right now. Everyone has something to take. Maybe a group would use you, but I'm not in a group and you're more safe and useful to me if you're dead or gone. So goodbye and good luck."

The man smiled at Kaji, his dirty teeth somehow still managing to shine.

"You say you don't have a group, huh? But then, what's that walkie-talkie you got there for?"

"It's on the emergency services wavelength. I listen in to see if we're ever going to have order restored," Kaji said, hoping his bluff would hold up.

"And what about the bear? That's a lot of meat for one kid."

"It attacked me. I had no choice," Kaji asserted.

"And you said I'm useless but that I also have something you could take. Isn't that a bit contradictory? Besides, I feel like I could be of use to you. There's a reason I've survived this long and you don't know what skills I have. For example, I'm rather good with… guns."

The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a small revolver and then pointed it in front of him. But, Kaji was surprised to see that the man wasn't aiming it at him. Before Kaji could even think to pull the trigger on his gun, the stranger had already pulled his and in an instant, one of the bear cubs had a hole in it's chest.

Kaji watched the one remaining bear scamper and cry confusedly, not sure if it should run away and save its life or if it should stay with its sibling and mother. The cub pattered its paws in the pool of its sibling's blood, the dark red liquid paw prints glistening brightly in the morning sun.

"Don't," Kaji growled under his breath.

"What was that, kid?" the man said as he cupped his hand around his ear and leaned forward.

"Don't," Kaji said a little louder.

"Why not? They weren't gonna live? And they're probably the reason big mama bear over there attacked you in the first place."

"I don't care…" Kaji mumbled.

The man smirked.

"You're just a naïve kid."

The stranger lifted his gun again and took aim at the second bear cub.

"I SAID DON'T!" Kaji screamed as he gripped his shotgun a little tighter.

"Oh, come on kid. It's as good as dead anyways. You've already sentenced it to death by killing it's mom."

The man then pulled the trigger and the last cub fell to the ground as the shot echoed through the forest.

Time seemed to slow down for Kaji. Without thinking, he'd pulled the trigger on his shotgun and adrenaline surged through his entire body after realizing what he'd done.

"FUCK! DID YOU JUST SHOOT ME!?" The man screamed in shock.

"I-I didn't mean to," Kaji whispered.

The man charged at Kaji. Surprised and with shock overwhelming him, Ryoji didn't react very quickly and was body slammed into the ground.

"YOU FUCKIN' PUNK! YOU FUCKIN' SHOT ME! YOU SHOT ME!"

The man punched Kaji in the face and then in the side of his ribs. He heard a snap and assumed one of his bones must've broken, but he was so confused that he didn't care. The only thing Ryoji cared about right now was killing this man.

He reached to a sheathe on his belt and pulled out a short wide trench knife. It was a grueling task. He tried defending his face with his free hand but most of the hits the older man was delivering made contact.

After fitting his fingers through the grip of the knife, with as much force as he could muster, he swung the knife over the man's arm and into his neck before rolling him over so that he was on top.

The man was choking and Kaji felt somewhat guilty, but he didn't want to take another chance. He pulled the knife out of the wound and then held it against the man's throat before slowly cutting it as wide as he could.

Kaji watched the man die quietly before he got off him and stood next to him, seeing that he had just taken another life today.

'How many now? Twenty? Twenty-five?'

Kaji looked at the bullet holes in the man's shirt and noticed that there was no blood. He slowly lifted up the shirt and saw that the man was wearing ballistic armor underneath.

Kaji sighed.

"So, a wasted arrow and a wasted shell. Damn."

He turned around and approached the two cubs. And, though he wanted to, he just couldn't cry anymore.

"I'm sorry. I'll…I'll make this up to you…-"

He picked up the two bears and cradled their small bloody bodies in his arms.

"-…Somehow. Goodbye and good luck."

/

-Perplexe-

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Kaji woke and threw the covers off of himself. He was breathing hard and sweating. The air conditioner helped to cool his burning skin, but not by much.

"Damn…that same dream again."

He sat up in his bed and wiped the sweat off his face before swinging his legs over the edge of the mattress. The wooden tile floor was cold and the sweat on his feet almost caused him to slip as he stood up.

He made his way to the door of his house and looked out the window. The sunshine burned his eyes and the hot humid air of the morning could almost be felt when he put his hand on the glass.

He waited for his eyes to adjust to the intense rays of light and stopped squinting.

Outside, he saw a black cat with a white crescent moon marking on its chest. It's eyes were two different colors; one blue and the other amber. He laid on the steps in front of his door. It was obviously a stray, but it wasn't the first time he'd seen him outside his door.

"What a beautiful world… even after second impact."

He opened the door and the cat quickly trotted a fair ten or so paces from the entrance.

"Hey, kitty."

The cat stared at Kaji with its multicolored eyes.

"You're just looking for a place to call home, huh?"

The cat squeaked out a quiet meow.

"I have some food I could spare if you like," Kaji said as his cool but relieving voice seemed to chill the eternal summer air.

The cat let out a long meow, louder this time.

Kaji chuckled and went inside. Now he was talking to cats. He didn't know if he was too lonely or too friendly. Anyhow, he went to his fridge and pulled out a chicken leg and then proceeded to tear it into small shreds for the cat to eat.

After tearing off about fifteen pieces, he walked back outside and placed the chicken about a foot from his door.

He watched the cat. It was reluctant to come any closer, but it was also undeniably interested.

"You know, you remind me of someone…"

The cat looked at Kaji cautiously and took one step closer before sniffing the air.

"Hmm... maybe it's nothing."

Kaji stood up and went back inside his apartment. He took one last glance at the cat through his window and then went to the bathroom so he could take a morning shower. After undressing himself, he looked at the mirror and smiled.

"Heheh, time for another great day of living."

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

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