New Year is a time of rejoicing, of reunion, and by and large just to have a great time with everyone and anyone. But there was one thing Li Syaoran always dreaded during New Year – the omnipresent inquiry that usually went, "When are you going to propose to her?"

Her, of course, referred to his one and only Kinomoto Sakura, the vivacious young lady currently giggling and laughing with everyone present in the Daidouji party room. As usual, she was being the belle of the ball, her outgoing attitude and infectious smiles never failing to charm anyone, not even someone as remote and aloof as Yue. But the best thing about her was – she didn't even realise what a terrific person she was!

Coming back to the question. Syaoran raked his fingers through his windswept dark caramel hair in exasperation. He was only twenty-two, for goodness sake! What's with the eagerness shown by everyone for him to propose to her? Twenty-two!! Certainly there was no hurry in that. Now when was it that the enquiry first materialised? It was… It was… That's right! It was when he was eighteen-years-old! He sighed. Nope, people nowadays made no sense whatsoever.

…Well, if he was honest with himself, he would admit that in actual fact, he did want to propose to her a long time ago. There was nothing stopping him too, except for a certain fact that whenever he tried to instigate the momentous query, his throat desiccated, his eyes rolled over, words choked during their exodus, his palms began perspiring, his tongue knotted, his cheeks burnt, and… and…

No need for further clarification, was there? The shaking of a fetching head was accompanied with a sigh. What kind of power did Sakura held over him that he always ended up blushing and stuttering around her?

"Hey!" a voice behind him and a tap on his shoulder smashed his stupor in millions of pieces. "When are you going to-"

"Don't. Ask," he bit out between gritted teeth as he swung around. Yamazaki stood before him with an askance eyebrow.

"I was only going to ask when you are going to join us over there," Yamazaki elucidated and pointed at the couches where an assemblage of young adults lounged in complete relaxation. Sakura, naturally, was sitting among them comfortably, the dazzling beam on her lovely face reducing quite a number of men into a troupe of ogling and reddening primates. Syaoran's blood boiled. All the more reason to declare her his ASAP.

He stampeded into their midst, sent them a spine-chilling glare as inconspicuously as possible and parked himself next to Sakura with a huff. Clearly, no men were going to approach her if he was around.

"Syaoran-kun, are you okay?" Sakura asked, her shining emeralds peering up to Syaoran's face with concern. "You seem mad at something."

"Huh? Um, no, I'm just, well, nothing much, err…" he faltered off. What could he say anyway? That he was blazing with jealousy? In front of all these people?

Not gonna happen.

Aside from Sakura, though, it seemed all and sundry grasped very well exactly what he was infuriated with, which was openly shown by their sniggering and sly looks. Sakura, meanwhile, blinked in bewilderment.

"I have an idea!" a mellifluous sweet voice belonging to Daidouji Tomoyo piped up. "Why don't we have a personality test?"

There was a pandemonium of "What?"s and "Interesting…"s among the gathering.

"How do we do it?" probed Mihara Chiharu.

"Well," Tomoyo explicated with a forefinger on her chin, "we all vote for someone to take the test. I have the questions ready right here. Capeesh?"

A melee of discussions ensued. All of a sudden there silence reigned. Chiharu stood up.

"We have decided on someone," she said, her eyes twinkling with a kind of mischief that triggered goosebumps on Syaoran's skin.

This is not… good…

"We want Li-kun to take the test."

Syaoran garrotted on the drink he was imbibing and straightened up instantly.

"Why me?" he demanded. There was a strident chorus of guffaws.

"Because, Li-kun," Chiharu blinked her eyes gleefully, "we all want to know when you when you are going to propose to Sakura-chan."

Sakura flushed visibly at her words while Syaoran muttered something that went in the lines of 'crazy' and 'pure evil'. This did nothing to dim the mirth of onlookers; if anything, they felt even more amused than before.

"Now don't worry, Li-kun. The questions are quite simple. Are you ready?" Tomoyo chirped a little too merrily.

Syaoran settled down in resignation.

"Fine, yes, whatever."

"Alright. Now, imagine you are in a forest. Is the forest light or dark?"

Syaoran scratched his head contemplatively. "It's rather light, I guess. Somewhat brighter than dawn."

Tomoyo bobbed her head up and down in satisfaction. "On to the next question. Do you see a path?"

"Yeah, I suppose."

The grin on her face widened. "Un-hn. As you walk through the forest, you see water. What does it look like, as in a puddle, a pond, a stream or… something like that?"

Syaoran rolled his ambers. "A river," he replied simply.

"Is the water you see moving?"

"Hmm… Yes, quite fast."

The grin was currently equivalent to a Cheshire cat's. Syaoran shuddered with an ill omen.

"What's so funny?" he shot out suspiciously. Tomoyo turned her head left and right, the spooky grin never once disappearing from her misleadingly chaste visage.

"Oh, you'll see. So how deep is the river?"

"Deeper than my height, I guess."

"And how do you cross it?"

"Um… I think I'll look around for a bridge or boat. If none is in sight, then I'll swim across it."

Tomoyo broke down into giggles. It was really getting on Syaoran's nerves.

"Tell me what that means!" he mandated. Tomoyo picked herself up and stifled her titters.

"I-I'm sorry, ignore me. Calm down, Li-kun, the test will be over soon."

Syaoran crossed his arms irritably. "Let's get it over with, then."

"Sure. Now, you continue your walk through the forest. You see a bear. What sort of bear is it?"

"A real bear, but too young to pose any hazard on my life."

"And what's the bear doing?"

"The bear is disregarding my presence and eating leaves."

"Last question. How do you get past the bear?"

"Easy. I ignore it and walk on."

"Done, that's the end."

Syaoran heaved a sigh of relief. So far the questions sounded relatively innocuous. He could only hope that there were no awkward meanings behind them.

"What do they mean, Tomoyo-chan?" Yanagisawa Naoko prompted impatiently.

"Yeah, tell us," even the habitually serene Sasaki Rika seemed piqued.

"I'll go question by question. The first question was on the degree of luminosity in the forest. Li-kun, the forest represents your life and how you see it. You're answer was somewhat brighter than dawn, right?"

Syaoran nodded.

"That means you are generally contented with your life, but there are one or two things you would like to change. Now I really wonder what it could be…" Tomoyo insinuated, eliciting a fracas of chuckles from the listening crowd. Syaoran, in the meantime, just reddened in hush.

"After that, I asked whether you saw a path in the forest. You said yes. This signifies that you're not yet settled with your life and you still have a long way to go. That's normal for young people."

Syaoran nodded curtly.

"And then we have the questions on the bear-"

"Wait a second," Chiharu objected. "I remember it was something about water, right?"

Tomoyo's azure irises assumed a devillish look, though she flashed everyone an amicable smile.

"It's fine, we'll save the best for the last, eh?" was all she said.

That took everyone aback, but Tomoyo recommenced her analysis on Syaoran.

"So here we have a bear. The bear portends the focal problem Li-kun faces in his life. The type and size of the bear is indicative of how serious the problem is. Li-kun, you answered that the bear is a young cub, if my memory serves me correctly. This reflects the fact that you indeed have a genuine problem on hand, though you don't see it as a really threatening one, shown by it being a small bear that does not intimidate you whatsoever. In fact, it was even paying no heed to you, only engrossed in eating. And you actually chose to overlook it and continue on your way. It suggests that you find the problem petty and menial, something that you can procrastinate. And you deal with it by shrugging it off and continuing with your life. However, a small cub will grow into a menacing bear one day, and by then it will be much harder to deal with. So, I advise you to resolve the quandary as soon as possible. Right, Sakura-chan?"

"Hoe?" Sakura chirped. "What does it have to do with me?"

And again the congregation snorted and had hysterics while Syaoran sulked in silence, his ears manifestly growing a precarious shade of crimson. More question marks popped up around Sakura's head.

"What's going on, Syaoran-kun? What does your problem have to do with me?" Sakura uttered in utter bemusement.

More snickers. More blushing on Syaoran's side.

"Let us move on to the questions about the water," Tomoyo quietened everyone, who adjusted themselves on the settees and floor so they could listen better. "Water denotes, to put it crudely, sex."

Everyone's eyes dilated as if on cue. Dilated, however, was a major understatement for Syaoran's eyes. They actually looked like they might pop out any second.

"I'm leaving!" he announced, indignation – and embarrassment – paramount in him. No, he could not, and would NOT be evaluated on on on – THAT – subject, especially not when the audience involved a certain girl.

But it seemed the curiosity of the mob outweighed his mortification.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" they bellowed and rammed him back into his seat belligerently, leaving no room for struggle. That did not hinder him from trying. For some time both parties thrashed about – or more like Syaoran thrashing about and the others resisting his scuffles.

"Ahehem," Tomoyo cleared her throat. "You actually gave pretty good answers, Li-kun. I think you'll make a really good husband."

…he felt like murdering Tomoyo right there and then, if not for all the pairs of hands holding him in place. Just then he became acutely aware that his hand was brushing Sakura's thigh, and with a jolt, he shrank away, careful not to have any form of physical contact with her whatsoever. By some misfortune - or luck - he could not read her expression as all he could see was the back of her head.

"Come on, Tomoyo-chan. Tell us what he said!"

Tomoyo gave grin so wide that the lower half of her face shone with her brilliantly white teeth. "The water Li-kun saw was in the form of a river. The focus, here, is the speed of the river. A higher speed indicates a higher libido. Li-kun, you mentioned that the river you saw was moving quite fast. Hence, it is safe to say that you have a rather high sexual drive."

Her words were almost drowned out by the cackles coming from the multitude. She cleared her throat again, and everyone muted down.

"It gets better," Tomoyo teased, as if the glowing shade of magenta on Syaoran's cheeks was not severe enough. "The depth of the river, on the other hand, implies the 'depth' you desire for during those, um, copulation sessions. You responded that the depth of the river was slightly taller than your height. Li-kun, you aim for deep and intense coïtus. You don't enjoy loveless love-making."

Effusions of 'awww…' were heard from the female crowd while the male counterparts rolled on the floor with uproarious laughter. If there was one thing Syaoran craved then, it would be to sink into the ground and never show up in front of Sakura ever again. He did not trust himself to speak, nonetheless, and so he resorted to closing his eyes and shutting out his hearing.

Which worked for some time until Tomoyo began speaking.

"That's not all," she resumed.

Not all? Not, ALL? That's more than enough disclosure in Syaoran's opinion!

"The ease with which Li-kun crosses the river reveals his lenience, his tolerance towards having random sex. First, he looks for something to help him cross the river. Then, he swims across it. This implies that Li-kun will only procreate when all seems well, when nothing bad will result from it. In other words, he prefers having sex only after wedlock. You're really a commendable person, Li-kun!"

All the women present were positively swooning with Syaoran's adorability.

"Li-kun, you're so cute!" one gushed.

"If only there were more men like this…" another cooed.

"Sakura-chan is so lucky to have a guy like him!" one more squealed.

Sakura. Syaoran's heart thumped like an elephant's footsteps at the reference to the name. Why oh WHY did he consent into taking the personality test? What was she thinking right now? How could he ever look at her in the eye again?

Most vitally, did she like what she heard?

Ochre eyes bore into the back of an auburn head fervently, scrutinising every motion and sound it made. But he saw nothing. Nothing whatsoever.

He dropped his head with an audible sigh.

"Syaoran-kun," a soft voice murmured. His heart skipped a beat. There was only one person here calling him by that term.

"Y-Yes?"

Heart hammered. Hands quivered.

"When are you going to p-propose?" she whispered so softly he briefly wondered if his ears were playing a trick on him.

"Huh?"

"D-Do you want to marry me?"

Syaoran found himself completely speechless, leading to a misinterpretation on Sakura's part.

"I-It's ok-kay if you don't w-want to-"

"I do! I've been yearning to ever since a long time ago!"

"M-me too…"

They lapsed into another silence. Syaoran, suddenly discovering the absence of jostling hands, sat up immediately. They squatted side by side, words eluding them and eyes fixated on the floor.

And out of the blue, both turned towards each other and blurted out "Please marry me!" simultaneously.

Both blinked, and chuckled nervously. Syaoran rubbed the back of his head, inwardly cursing himself for being so cowardly.

"I do…"

His head shot up in surprise. Taking in the blushing coppery-haired lime-eyed girl before him affectionately, joy, astonishment, disbelief, delight, and numerous other sentiments washed over him in that second. How did two such tiny little words beget such a wave of ardent emotion in him?

He did not know.

All he knew was to fling his arms around Sakura and hug her with all he was worth.

Nevertheless, a moment later, they sprang apart as deafening applauds broke out around them, both as scarlet as ripe tomatoes. They had actually forgotten about the existence of spectators.

Tomoyo giggled noiselessly to herself and tapped the videocamera in one hand pleased. A lucky thing she had it pointed at them all that time.

But then, she had planned it all along.

That... did not turn out like I wanted. Oh well, sayonara, minna, will be gone until I defeat a certain obstacle dubbed EXAMINATION! Wish me luck!