Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Naruto, nor do I make any money from the writing of this story.

Pairings: Naruto/Sasuke, Sasuke/Neji, Naruto/Gaara, Sasuke/OC and others.

Warnings: Violence, foul language, Yaoi, Mpreg. Don't like, don't read.

A/N: And here it is - the first part of "The Longest Line" sequel! Go read the first part if you haven't already or you won't understand the story at all.

It took a while for me to get excited about it, though, but I really want to finish this, and I will :D

I'm stubborn like that sometimes.

I hope you guys can enjoy it as much as you did "TLL".

This prologue served for you guys to see how the seal works, sort of. The first chapter will be coming out soon with some Sasuke/Naruto goodness.

This is Un'beta'd.

Let me know what you think, yes?

Prologue

Few were the moments in his life when Neji truly considered himself unfortunate. Someone like him – respected, powerful, focused, successful, and good-looking – could never feel sorry for the kind of life he led. Of course he had worked his ass off, poured his pride, anger, blood and sweat along the way to be who he was and achieve the kind of recognition he had, especially among his own kind. But none of that mattered now, because he was who he was – someone stronger in every way possible – and a better person altogether.

He had long since learned that even though hatred and bitterness could be precious triggers on the way to greatness, they didn't help at all on the way to happiness and inner peace.

Yes, Neji considered himself a better person at 20 than he was at thirteen. His self-control was exquisite and he was much more comprehensive now, more objective and less judgmental than before. He was also sure that his renewed sense of patience should win some sort of award.

He was a good person. He really was, and he strongly believed it; took pride in it, too.

However, sometimes, being the good guy would almost manage make him feel miserable, if that was something he ever allowed himself to feel.

Six months after Sasuke had broken up with him to start dating his loud, orange friend, the Hyuuga still claimed to the seven winds that he was more than fine, and that he had he had already forgiven and forgotten everything, reason as to why he was still friends with the both of them.

In a way, it was true. Sasuke was his subordinate, after all. He had to deal with him whether he liked it or not – not that he disliked it, really, and he tried the best he could to keep his promise of being good friends with the Uchiha and respect the fact that they weren't dating anymore.

Neji definitely thought he was far too nice and far too considerate. Maybe that maturity he thought he possessed turned him into a real fool. Whatever it was, there was nothing he could do to fight it, because he still had feelings for Sasuke.

There was no use in trying to deny it. No matter what he did or who he slept with, no one compared to him. No matter how many times he tried to see him as nothing but a precious person who had hurt him, Sasuke would always be Sasuke. Falling out of love was no easy task, especially for someone who had never been in love before that.

For that, he was very unfortunate, because no amount of intelligence could find a way to stop his heart from desiring someone who loved someone else.

To make matters worse, the Hokage had forced him to be involved in what he called 'The Adventures of Sasuke's Mysterious Seal'.

After Sasuke had been subjected to a series of inconclusive exams that showed nothing more than what they already knew – that the seal appeared in the presence of raw chakra and that it absorbed it – Tsunade had refused to give in to the Uchiha's demand of calling the priestess back to Konoha to remove it. It was a dangerous move, she said, to accuse the girl of something seemingly harmless when Sasuke himself had refused her marriage offer.

Neji had come to know all about it because the busty woman had decided that it would be wise to have someone checking up on the seal once in a while to see if something changed and who better than him, a Hyuuga, with the Byakugan, to do it?

He was aware that Sakura was handling the medical part of it, but worried and suspicious as she felt towards the seal, she never really found anything worthy of care.

So, now, he was forced to take a look at the damned thing every three weeks or so, and write a report on it for her and the Hokage to read.

How fascinating Neji's life had become, he mused bitterly, letting out a sigh and activating his Byakugan, feeling the veins in his temples thicken and pulse powerfully as his vision became bi-dimensional.

In a way, he was glad that he had been involved in this because something about the seal felt off.

His dark wooden porch was located in the back of his house, adorned by a small, well-tended Zen garden. The mild afternoon sun brightened the colors of the new spring flowers that were still blooming as sweet, floral scents filled the air all. The breeze was soft and a little chilly, but it wasn't exactly cold.

Sasuke was lying on the floor with one of his arms behind his head, legs stretched out in a relaxed demeanor as his other hand pushed up his light grey sweater, revealing his pale, toned abs.

Neji was kneeling down at his left, facing the garden, his back very straight, each hand placed over each one of his thighs in an almost ritualistic pose. He was pretty much aware of Sasuke's onyx eyes fixed on him attentively, but he wouldn't allow himself to lose his focus – although it was rather difficult with Sasuke looking so nonchalantly gorgeous. The fact that his skin was at hand's reach didn't really help either.

Instead, he inhaled deeply through his nose and scrutinized Sasuke's belly.

As he had feared, the seal had been transmogrifying. It wasn't something new to Neij, who had noticed two months previously that after absorbing chakra, the seal seemed to form what looked like tiny sphere-like recipients of chakra that glued themselves to Sasuke's organs. It wasn't something visible to the naked eye, but Neji had been able to see it.

Lately, though, he had noticed that those spheres seemed to be slowly fusing together to form a larger one that resembled a small second liver. To make things even more suspicious, something akin to various energy strings were, from day to day, one by one, emerging from the recipient, connecting to Sasuke's chakra channels and becoming a part of it.

Tsunade-sama held onto the theory that the seal was creating some sort of chakra reserve inside of Sasuke's body. Sasuke thought that the fact that he now absorbed chakra was actually kind of useful when he was fighting a hand to hand battle with the enemy – it took longer for him to get tired while it was faster for the enemy to feel fatigued – but that didn't mean he felt like leaning back and getting accustomed to it.

If indeed the seal was creating a way for Sasuke's body to store extra chakra inside him, then that would mean that he would probably have at least 40% more resistance than any normal human being had. It was a smart, well-structured seal that offered something every Shinobi would want to possess.

What bugged Neji, though, was the fact that he found no reason as to why the priestess would actually give something like that to Sasuke.

But something was wrong, different than what he had seen the last time, and definitely unexpected – the chakra in Sasuke's body wasn't just the usual clear blue anymore, because a few, almost imperceptible flecks of light red made their way alongside it.

Neji's eyebrows shot up.

What the hell?

"Notice anything different?" Sasuke's low voice asked, waking Neji from his confused and apprehensive state.

Neji's clear eyes moved to Sasuke's handsome face with seriousness. He was thankful that the Hokage hadn't taken up on Sakura's suggestion of hiding the important details from Sasuke, otherwise things would be harder to explain.

Still, he could almost guess where the red chakra came from.

"Yes," He said, nodding gravely. "It has been doing the same it did the last time I checked, but it's still gaining shape. I don't know when it'll reach its final form, though, but it can't be long. Only then will we get to see it function properly and maybe reach a consistent conclusion. "

Sasuke blinked up at him, eyes narrowing so much he looked like a suspicious cat.

"Tell me what you see." He asked, calmly.

The long-haired male heaved a sigh, dropping his eyes from Sasuke's to the place he needed to observe.

"There is a larger chakra recipient here," He said, raising his left hand and running his index finger lightly around Sasuke's belly button. Since he was using the Byakugan, his chakra signature was present everywhere, radiating with a soft and almost ethereal glow in his skin, pouring gently from his pores, which immediately caused the seal to react. Quickly, as if painted in black ink by an invisible hand, the intricate patterns formed over the navel. "It's not very big, I can assure you. But there are still smaller chakra spots all around here, all in the same area. Also…"

The sudden activation of the seal's powers cut Neji's words as a strong pull of his energy made his hand shake and a tingling feeling crawl up his arm like a shock of electricity, and he found himself with his breath stuck in his lungs. The feeling wasn't exactly unknown to him, but he couldn't seem to get used to it.

The seal sucked his chakra out slowly but consistently. It felt similar to bleeding heavily from a deep wound, minus the pain, but it made his muscles tremble and something like adrenaline pump into his veins as the chakra floated from him into Sasuke's body.

Neji suspected that it would take about an hour of full contact in chakra use for a person to be completely drained of life, and that made Neji a little self-conscious with fear and simultaneous desire to test his own abilities.

He would never admit it, but the feeling provided a certain rush, especially because it was sort of intimate in distorted way.

Sasuke watched him in silence, shifting a bit as if his body felt uncomfortable with the gesture, clearly trying to understand what the look in his captain face meant. Neji licked his dried lips but didn't remove the hand, forcing himself to breathe out.

"Also, you have red chakra flowing alongside your regular chakra," He proceeded, as composedly as he could. "The fact that the small marbles of chakra are fusing together into a bigger one that seems to be constantly growing is not something I hadn't expected. I assume we'll only have one single chakra recipient soon. However, this red chakra…"

He moved his shaky hand once more and placed the palm flat over Sasuke's stomach, feeling the soft but firm skin underneath it, relishing in the feeling of being so shamelessly connected to his former lover, even if the contact was more spiritual that physical.

Neji pressed his lips together in a thin line, a sharp pang of longing and awareness taking over him.

"Neji?" Sasuke called out in a slightly cold voice that came out a little raspy, and grabbed for Neji's wrist, causing the older one to shiver and snap his head up to look at him with in surprise. "You're being too direct. Your hand is too hot, you'll make me feel sick, so either deactivate the Byakugan or stop touching me."

Neji swallowed hard and nodded. The only reason as to why he didn't snatch his hand away from Sasuke's contact was because he had no intention of displaying his feelings openly for the Uchiha to see.

So when Sasuke's fingers loosened around his wrist, he carefully and slowly removed his hand and placed it confidently over his lap once more with as much dignity as he could muster. It still shook, but he realized he missed the contact all the same.

The Byakugan retreated and the veins in his temples shrunk back to their normal sizes. In silence, Neji watched the dark seal fade away.

"You can cover yourself again." He said calmly. Sasuke took a moment to react, eyeing him impassively before sitting with his legs crossed and pulling his sweater down.

"You were going to say something about the red chakra." Sasuke reminded him passively, running his fingers through the spikes in the back of his head. Absently, Neji appreciated just how blue its highlights became under the spring sun.

The Hyuuga bit his lip and looked straight into Sasuke's eyes, somehow not really feeling like having that kind of conversation with him. Maybe he could just mention it in the report and Sakura or Tunade-Sama could tell him about it.

But no, he had to do it. He had no reason not to and if he didn't, that would be admitting his weakness.

"How often do you and Naruto have sex?" He asked, in a simple tone that still sounded too damned bitter to his ears.

Sasuke's eyebrows quirked upwards.

"Is that a tricky question?" He asked, offering his captain a careful smirk.

"I have no interest in your sex life, if that's what you're insinuating." Neji retorted, coolly. Sasuke shrugged elegantly and leaned backwards, hands resting on the porch floor behind him to support his weight. He seemed relatively relaxed in spite of Neji's obvious concern, and the taller of the two couldn't help but to be reminded of those times when Sasuke used to spend their joined days off in his house. They would hang out like that – except Neji would probably be molesting him by now – just enjoying the weather together and later they would have dinner, watch TV, maybe spar for a while in the Dojo and then just get down and dirty somewhere and traumatize the servants for life.

For some reason, Sasuke's smile became mischievous at that precise moment, probably realizing Neji's thoughts.

"Pervert." He teased, and Neji rolled his eyes.

"I'm trying to be professional here, so just answer the damn question." He hissed, frowning.

Sasuke made a slight, thoughtful pout that could be rather endearing if he didn't look so temptingly indecent in Neji's eyes.

"I don't really keep track of that," He ended up saying, with an elegant shrug. "It depends, I guess. Six times a week; maybe more if we're not too busy."

"Do you wear condom?"

"Sometimes," Sasuke muttered, smile faltering as he turned his eyes away looked at the garden. "What's with all the questions?"

Inhaling deeply, Neji closed his hands into fists.

"Well, I'm asking because I suspect that red in your chakra channels may be caused by Naruto," He explained, forcing himself to be patient and, as always, standoffishly professional. "He's the person that is physically closer to you. I don't know how balanced his chakra is, so I assume you might be absorbing it at some point, especially if the two of you do it while he is in use of raw chakra."

Sasuke snorted, letting Neji know what he needed to know.

"It's normal to have…fetishes," The brown haired male said, forcing his voice to stay natural and calm. "But it's not safe at this point, when we have no idea what kind of effect the Kyuubi's chakra may have on your body. All I'm saying is that you should be careful, Sasuke. Wear protection, avoid doing it eccentrically, or even in situations where you know that his chakra signature is particularly strong. Do you understand what I'm telling you?"

"I understand, Neji, I'm not stupid." Sasuke snapped, turning his head to him with an unpleased expression.

"You don't have to be stupid to be reckless," Neji countered, with equal distaste. "You just have to be horny and hopelessly in love."

He hadn't meant to sound disgusted and resentful, but he did anyway, and Sasuke noticed it because he huffed, blushing violently and throwing Neji a look that held hurt and embarrassment.

"If that's all for today's appointment, then I'll be on my way." The raven hissed, promptly getting up and patting the dust off his jeans brusquely.

Neji watched him, heart beating faster and internally scolding himself for still not being able to control his impetuousness properly.

"Sasuke," He called out, getting up just as his friend turned to him and crossed his arms over his chest.

"What?" He snapped, just as Neji straightened up. "I heard your advice already."

"I know you did," Neji nodded hesitantly. "I didn't mean to sound like that, I just…"

"You just what?" Sasuke drawled, menacingly.

"I…" Neji swallowed hard, fists clenched at his sides. "I'm worried about you. This seal…Sasuke, there's something wrong with it and you have to be careful. I'm not saying Naruto is a threat or anything of the sort, I'm just telling you that you, and him, have to take it slow until we figure out what's going on."

Sasuke's shoulders tensed, but his features relaxed.

"It's been six months." He whispered, dark eyes boring holes into Neji's clear ones.

"I know, and I'm working on it," Neji assented, finding it hard to look away. "I guess I assumed it would've ended by now."

"Right."

"I still get pissed sometimes."

"I can tell."

They stood in front of each other, looking at each other, and Neji couldn't help but feel slightly guilty because, in a way, he had been hoping that, indeed, Sasuke and Naruto might've broken up by now. But they were standing their ground – that shook once in a while –, stronger than ever together.

He respected it, admired it even, but he still felt envious, which sometimes caused him and Sasuke to fight in the most unexpected moments. If he were to be honest with himself, Neji was good at being 'the friend', but sucked at processing the fact that there was nothing else to it than that anymore.

His mind knew it, but his heart was taking longer than necessary to understand that Sasuke and Naruto were proving to be a sure thing.

"Don't go yet," Neji said, in an almost pleading way, but not quite, because that would be humiliating, and he didn't need to feel more exposed than he already did. "Let's have a drink or something before you have to go pick him up."

Sasuke seemed thoughtful for a while, evaluating the taller man with his dark, clever eyes that always felt like they were stripping him down from head to toe.

Neji had to control the shiver that was threatening to run down his spine.

"Fine," Sasuke ended up agreeing, shoulders slumping in a sign that he felt at ease once more. "But don't ever use that tone to talk about me and him again, alright?"

"I can't help it." Neji admitted.

"Well, I can't stand it."

"I can't stand that you're in love with him," Neji retorted, making a face. "Shouldn't that make us even?"

Sasuke actually considered him for a few seconds in disbelief. Then, he huffed once more, raising his hands in defeat.

"Whatever," He hissed, teeth clenched, shoving his hands inside his pockets. "You better have Sake. I won't have anything else if I am forced to take your shit through the rest of the afternoon."

"I asked you to stay, but you don't have to." The Hyuuga pointed out, a very small, dry smile forming in his lips as Sasuke began to walk away from him, very sure of where he was headed.

"Fuck you, you manipulative bastard." Sasuke threw, over his shoulder.

Neji sighed, once more, feeling tired and disturbed, but somewhat relieved that his former lover was staying with him in spite of everything.

"Let's hope I can manipulate you into not fucking on the ceiling or some weird place like that." He muttered, composing his clothes and following the raven.