YukiSyao

YukiSyao is the slash ship between Yukito and Syaoran from the Cardcaptor Sakura fandom.

Canon
Sakura and Syaoran first started as love rivals. Tomoyo is the first one to inform Sakura of this, funnily mentioning the fact that Syaoran is now her rival for the Clow Cards, as well as her rival on the battlefield of love.

This started when Sakura, Syaoran, and their class are on a trip to the beach for a few days. There, one of their classmates makes up a story about the origins of beach volleyball, saying that in its origins, the winner got to win their love’s heart. Hearing this, both Syaoran and Sakura believe the story, and start thinking about the great possibility of winning Yukito’s love. They then start fiercely playing against each other.

Syaoran’s cute crush keeps being evident throughout the series, evident by how blushy and nervous he gets around Yukito. Like the time when Sakura and Tomoyo are invited to the high school culture festival by Touya and Yukito. Yukito takes the two of them to his class, and Sakura says that she feels like someone is watching her. Sakura looks to the side and sees Syaoran there, glaring at them hard. Yukito approaches him, Syaoran stops glaring, blushes and shakes his head. Later, Yukito wins a stuffed animal in a game against the basketball team and gives it to Sakura, which makes Syaoran really jealous. Yukito sees this and gives the guy 200 yen for another go and wins another doll for Syaoran. When they are walking back, Yukito says that it is almost time for the school play. Syaoran blushes once again and asks him if he is in the play, stuttering. Yukito says that he is in the play, with a smile. Syaoran asks what role he is and Yukito says he is playing the role of a “Can With Mackerel”. Later in the night, there is a bonfire, with people dancing around. Yukito grabs Sakura’s hand and leads her to the bonfire to dance. Once again, Syaoran feels jealous and is saddened by the experience.

Syaoran meets Yukito once again at the summer festival. Sakura, Tomoyo, Touya, and Yukito see Syaoran playing a shooting game and Tomoyo tells him how good he is. Syaoran is annoyed at first, but then sees Yukito and quickly offers up all of the sweets that he has won, making him embarrassed while blushing. When Touya sees Syaoran, they both race to see who can win a stuffed rabbit first: Touya for Sakura, or Syaoran for Yukito. When he finally wins, Syaoran runs to give Yukito the stuffed rabbit he won for him, and Yukito tells him that he will buy another one for Syaoran, as a thank-you gift.

Syaoran’s jealousy towards Sakura over Yukito continues for some time, until one night the both of them have a private hear-to-heart conversation, where they confess the shared feelings they have for Yukito. Sakura confesses she likes Yukito and hearing this, Syaoran instantly blushes asking her if what she feels is love. Sakura asks him if he feels the same way about Yukito, if he likes him a lot. Syaoran confirms he also has a crush on Yukito and tells Sakura that he fell in love with him at first sight on his first day at school. Sakura realizes they have the same feelings, and they bond over that, but when she goes into further explaining she really likes Yukito, Syaoran gets embarrassed and runs away.

Moments

 * During episode 23, Sakura confides in Tomoyo that Yukito will spend the night at her house with her brother. Sayoran, who is intently eavesdropping on their conversation, jumps in to ask her who will be at her house, filled with jealousy.
 * In episode 29, both Sakura and Syaoran, blushing, ask Yukito what his favorite cake is, at the same time. And then ask them in sync, if he would like to eat one prepared by them. Later, when Sakura gets to cook a cake for Yukito, he says he loves it, and that he would be happy eating a cake like it everyday. Syaoran watches this all from afar, sad and jealous that he did not get to make a cake for Yukito first.
 * During episode 34, the entire town participates in a quiz rally where contestants run to various locations and solve puzzles. When Syaoran finds out that Sakura is going to team up with Yukito, he gets extremely jealous. But his expression softens up once Yukito approaches them, and asks him if he will participate. To which Syaoran shyly replies that he will. During the competition, while Meiling was talking to him, Syaoran got distracted and started staring at Yukito. While looking at him smiling, Syaoran started to blush hard.
 * In episode 38, Yukito joins Touya and Sakura harvesting strawberries. Syaoran collects tons in a bowl that he hands to Yukito, with a huge blush on his face.
 * During episode 51, Yukito invites Syaoran to have lunch with him, making him blush once again. During lunch, he keeps blushing each time Yukito talks to him. And then Yukito asks him about the little plushy bear Syaoran was carrying around.
 * In episode 55, while reading Alice in Wonderland, Sakura is sucked into the book’s fantasy. She meets two identical Syaorans that ask her to solve the puzzle and to figure out which one of the two is the real Syaoran. One of them tells Sakura that he likes someone, while the other one likes no one. Sakura then thinks of the confession that Syaoran made of his crush on Yukito to Sakura some time ago and answers correctly. However, since he was now starting to develop feelings for Sakura, Sakura fails on the second question (is the person that Syaoran likes taller than him or shorter than him), answering thinking about Yukito, when Syaoran meant Sakura.

Fanon
Syaoran’s crush on Yukito is one of the most well-known of the series for the fandom, especially to LGBT+ fans that deeply appreciate the positive representation of kids having crushes on people of their same gender. This was exceptionally progressive for its time since it shows both Sakura and Syaoran having crushes on him, no one ever diminishes Syaoran for having a crush on a boy, Sakura never outs him or discriminates him for his love, and the both of them have a healthy and open conversation about their feelings for Yukito, without her being homophobic or invalidating, but actually bonding in a sweet way.

However, this was all censored outside of Japan at the time, due to the extreme homophobia that did not allow to show any hints of anything but heterosexual love, let alone in shows that were considered for kids. Syaoran’s crush was rewritten to be Syaoran simply being afraid of Yukito. Although they were not able to change the animation, and despite what the characters said, Syaoran’s blushing when Yukito appeared made it obvious that he was not straight.

Syaoran’s crush on a teenage boy older than him is shown as just that, the normal crush most kids have on older celebrities or even siblings’ friends. In no way are Syaoran or Sakura’s feelings reciprocated by Yukito, who, in fact, later makes it clear to Sakura that he sees her as a little sister and that he is in love with her brother Touya. This makes it all wholesome and a positive portrayal for queer kids to see themselves and not feel like they are not represented anywhere.

Fandom
FAN FICTION