HuXiao

HuXiao is the het ship between Xiao and Hu Tao from the Genshin Impact fandom.

Canon
They both have butterflies as a motif. Xiao's story quest is called "Butterfly's Dream" while Hu Tao's quest is called "Yet the Butterfly Flutters Away".

In their voice lines, Hu Tao seems to be the only human that Xiao actually finds 'humorous', and Xiao is also one of the very few people who has a positive impression of her. This is quite surprising since Xiao is an introvert who keeps himself away from others and has a stoic, serious personality. On the other hand, Hu Tao's voice line about Xiao sounds like she is flustered and is trying to keep a secret about him. Similarly, her voice line is surprising because Hu Tao is not shy—she doesn’t hold back her opinion on any other character she has voice lines about.

In "Chapter I, Act I: Of the Land Amidst Monoliths", there is a ghost named Dusky Ming who Xiao is taking care of at Wangshu Inn. He described her as a spirit who had never hurt anyone, yet is also not yet able to be moved on. The ghost can be seen singing 'Hilitune', a song which Hu Tao composed. Moreover, this ghost was also featured on Hu Tao's 2021 birthday post, playing hide-and-seek with her.

Both the yakshas and Wangsheng Funeral Parlor play a role in keeping Liyue safe from the resentful remnants of dead gods. Xiao’s story quest and voice lines mention that the yakshas keep the resentment from spreading by slaughtering the demons that spawned from remnants. Hu Tao’s story quest and the Staff of Homa description mention that doctors and directors at Wangsheng Funeral Parlor have historically helped purify the resentment that plagued the people of Liyue.

In the Lantern Rite 2023 event story, "The Exquisite Night Chimes: Epilogue", Hu Tao invited her peers to dinner celebrating Lantern Rite. Hu Tao's peers all arrived via invite, but Xiao is fetched by Hu Tao in person, making Paimon assume he is a "super important" guest. Paimon thinks "it's pretty amazing that she managed to talk Xiao into coming... He rarely ever enters Liyue Harbor, after all."

Hu Tao managed to invite Xiao by talking to Verr Goldet, Wangshu Inn's boss, and calling out Xiao's various names and titles from the Inn's top floor. He appeared in front of her and asked what she needed. This is a notable detail because not all characters have succeeded in summoning him by name, such as Xiangling and Paimon in the Moonchase Festival. Zhongli mentioned there were more reasons for Xiao accepting her invite beyond just her pestering him, in which Hu Tao labeled their relationship as a "deep-rooted connection" due to the historical relationship between the Yakshas and Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. Xiao was initially hesitant to accept the invite due to his negative karma, but Hu Tao was mindful of this and curated the guestlist to contain people who hold visions in order to reassure him and mitigate potential harm.

Quotes
"Hu Tao? Her liveliness is irritating. Fortunately, she is also humorous, so you need not worry about her growing into a boring human."

- Xiao about Hu Tao

"What would I know of the adepti? Ai-yai-yai, that kind of stuff is top-secret! Don't come asking me about it!"

- Hu Tao about Xiao

"Ta-da! We're here! We're not late to the party, right? Right? Good thing the Conqueror of Demons and I are both as swift as the wind. And whoosh! We made it just in time!"

- Hu Tao entering Xinyue Kiosk with Xiao in Lantern Rite 2023 "The Exquisite Night Chimes: Epilogue"

"The parlor director went out of her way with the invitation, so it was difficult to turn her down. I had made mental preparations before agreeing to come."

- Xiao talking about accepting Hu Tao's inviation in Lantern Rite 2023 "The Exquisite Night Chimes: Epilogue"

"Do you know the history of the Yaksha? They once fought against the ancient gods. They fought brilliantly in a battle that engulfed the whole world in darkness. Although the gods were defeated in the end, their resentment persevered."

- Hu Tao in her story quest "Yet the Butterfly Flutters Away": "In Pursuit of a Phantom"

Fanon
The ship was born when their voice lines about each other were revealed. HuXiao shippers often think that Xiao would be protective towards Hu Tao and Hu Tao might be the one to help Xiao find peace/happiness.

Many HuXiao shippers like the ship due to their fun dynamic, angst potential, and many thematic similarities. A key point is their shared associations with butterflies and death. Hu Tao and Xiao are like two faces of the same coin. They both deal in death, but Hu Tao is about moving on, seeing death as a peaceful conclusion of life that everyone must experience. In contrast, Xiao is about death as a redemption, where life is so full of suffering that death is a release. For Hu Tao, death is a path of life thus the butterfly (soul) flutters away (moves forward). For Xiao, death is a dream (desire).

Those who don't ship HuXiao romantically enjoy their dynamic as friends or as a found family (usually with Zhongli as the father figure and sometimes Ganyu/Qiqi as sisters). Their similarities in gameplay (being DPS carries who require HP management) has also led to fanworks depicting the two of them together.

HuXiao is often overshadowed by some ships like XiaoVen and Xiaother on Xiao's side or YanTao on Hu Tao's side, although it remains one of Hu Tao's more popular ships. On AO3, there are currently 300+ fanfics about Xiao and Hu Tao.

They had their first canon interaction in the Lantern Rite 2023 event story. HuXiao shippers enjoyed that Hu Tao was the one to successfully invite Xiao to celebrate Lantern Rite-it was Xiao's first time accepting and partaking in celebrations despite being invited by the Traveler in the two years prior. Fans like to imagine that Xiao carried/teleported Hu Tao to Xinyue Kiosk because they arrived together in a rush and with the force of a hurricane. They also found it amusing that the Wangshu Inn summoning flashback was reminiscent of scenes depicted in various HuXiao fanfics written long before the event.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

FAN ART

Trivia

 * In Chinese culture, the butterfly is a symbol of long life and conjugal bliss.
 * "Butterfly Lovers" is a famous Chinese legend about the tragic love story between two lovers who couldn't be together in life and became butterflies in death.
 * The butterfly is a shared motif of Hu Tao and Xiao. Butterflies can be seen fluttering around the pair during both Elemental Skill and Burst (Hu Tao) and Elemental Burst (Xiao).
 * Silk flowers, Hu Tao's ascension material, is seen within a bouquet being held by Xiao in the official 2021 Mid-Autumn Festival art.
 * Hu Tao and Xiao were featured as the mascots of the real-life Sweets Paradise x Genshin cafe collaboration (Liyue version). As such, there is official merchandise depicting them together in their cafe costumes.
 * Hu Tao and Xiao were featured in a mobile Genshin Impact ad, depicting them racing at Wangshu Inn.
 * The 5th tab of in-game chat stickers is dedicated entirely to Hu Tao and Xiao stickers.
 * Staff of Homa, Hu Tao's signature weapon, also has ties to the adepti in lore, specifically the yakshas. It so happens that Xiao is the last remaining yaksha.
 * Staff of Homa was once wielded by an ancestor of Hu Tao. There was once a time wherein plague and curses frequented Liyue as a result of the gods’ lingering resentment, and thus killed many citizens and non-citizens; Hu Tao's ancestor, a doctor, had used the staff to cleanse the dead bodies of karmic impurity.
 * In her story quest, Hu Tao shows a deep understanding of yakshas and their place in history. Many in-game sources indicate that knowledge of yakshas is very uncommon among the people of Liyue in the current era.
 * Hu Tao has some connections to Wangshu Inn, where Xiao resides:
 * Her ascension level-up materials (silk flowers) are found there.
 * The recipe for Vegetarian Abalone, the base for her specialty dish, is sold there.
 * Her favored indoor furnishing set Cloudy Haze Dream-Court is described as “a humble and unassuming bedroom alike in many ways to one you might find in Wangshu Inn.”
 * In the description about the Stone Lion Statue: The Knowing, it is said that the first stone lion were built from jade and based on the forms of adepti, having an ability to frighten evil away. People are often seen preparing a serving of Almond Tofu as a little token of appreciation for a certain adepti for that. Contrastingly, according to the description about the Stone Lion Statue: The Warding, despite the fact that most people treat these statues with an utmost respect, Hu Tao seems happy to disregard this tradition, regularly showing up around them to play some pranks.
 * In Chinese architecture, stone lion statues usually come in a male-female pair and are used to protect the buildings they guard from harmful threats. This could be a reference to the roles that Xiao and Hu Tao play as protectors.
 * The furnishing set Thouroughfare Entrance: Evil Banisher features these two statues together with an Adeptus Gate.
 * They have quite a number of similarities:
 * Both Xiao and Hu Tao are five star polearm users who were initally released in patch 1.3 and use Juvenile Jade as an ascension material.
 * The two of them both have ombre hair.
 * Both of their elemental powers drain their HP and imbue their attacks with an element.
 * Both of them have talents that decrease a total 30% of current health.
 * Hu Tao drains an immediate 30% of current health from her Elemental Skill.
 * Xiao drains a total of 30% current health over 15 seconds from his Elemental Burst.
 * They both favor the outdoor furnishing set Qingce Cloud Residence.
 * They both hold respect for Zhongli.
 * Zhongli's true identity being Morax remains a secret to most, but both their voice lines for Zhongli imply that they know who he is.
 * is a significant character to both of them.
 * Qiqi's story and voice lines imply that Xiao was one of the adepti involved in her death and/or resurrection.
 * Hu Tao proclaims herself as Qiqi's "true friend" and wishes to lay Qiqi to rest, though later Hu Tao accepts Qiqi's will to live and no longer wants to force her to move on.
 * They both highly regard 's fighting ability.
 * They both deal in death and serve as protectors of sorts.
 * Xiao as the Conqueror of Demons killing evil spirits to protect Liyue from the effects of god residue, and Hu Tao as the 77th Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor carrying out last rites and ceremonies to protect the world's natural order and the “border” between life and death.
 * Even though their personalities are very different, they're both serious about doing their jobs correctly and respecting the "rules" of the world. Xiao’s first lines upon meeting the Traveler are telling them that too much contact with the adeptal world is “breaking the rules”. Hu Tao’s entire reason for initially wanting to put Qiqi to rest is that Qiqi’s existence contradicts the natural cycle of life and death. Hu Tao describes herself as strict about guarding the border between life and death, Wangsheng Funeral Parlor’s most important responsibility.
 * They both have the ability to communicate with spirits/ghosts.
 * In Xiao's story quest, Pervases says that “The line between adepti and ghosts is a fine one indeed.”
 * In Genshin Impact EP - Lingering Aroma of the Solitary Butterfly, Hu Tao can be seen at a waterfall near Pervases’ temple. Wangshu Inn features prominently throughout the rest of the video.
 * Genshin Impact EP - A Moment of Tranquility in the Eradication of Evil also features the waterfall/Pervases’ temple and Wangshu Inn. The ending shot at Wangshu Inn also shows Wuwang Hill in the background.