The new fic is so sad, I didn't know I could feel so bad for Kenjaku.
It actually made me remember something my mom told me. She was born and grew up in an impoverished country, and when she was a child lots of people were dying in the area due to meningitis, she almost died herself from it.
Later when she got pregnant with her firstborn ( me) she kept remembering lots of stories the older women about would say SIDs and babies who just stopped breathing. She would sleep with me and constantly be checking my breathing, feel my face to make sure I was okay and had me take basically every shot, medicine, and vitamin supplement throughout my life even now as a grown up.
I can so clearly visualize Kenjaku with baby Yuuji just relieved and proud to have their perfect healthy child but still finds themselves checking on their breathing in the middle of the night, checking every reflex and milestone. First night Yuuji gets the sniffles as a baby, assures themselves that it's nothing and there's plenty of medicine advances but still Jin do all the direct care.
I am very sorry to hear this, but glad you and your mother made it through that tough time. Hope your mother is doing well. I also had meningitis as a child that was discovered pretty late, so I can understand what your mother went through and why it left such an impression on her.
Part of what inspired this part of the fic was actually that I have no or a skewed sense of hunger. I feel my body getting weaker without food, but there isn't that natural drive to eat. I heard from my parents that even as an infant they had to time the meals because I wouldn't cry when I was hungry. If they forgot, I would have just peacefully starved to death and that has left them very anxious about my eating habits until I became an adult. So that influenced a lot of my description of Anshi's behaviour.
Kenjaku has gone through so many failures, in general and related to their children, that I think they kept their expectations low for Yuuji, at least for the first few months, until they were sure that he was developing the way they wanted him to. They probably tested some things out beforehand, but it was still a gamble of if it would succeed this time. Whatever they did to give Yuuji his exceptional body could likely have very easily turned around to hurt him or even kill him at birth. Once that initial phase of doubt is over and they could confirm he is everything they wanted, they relaxed a bit more and allowed themselves to get a bit closer (albeit not physically).
I imagine that is part of why he is now one of the few people they (let themselves) care about. It is very difficult to kill him and when he was a child there were also not that many sources of danger around, so they for once could enjoy the feeling of finally having conceived a healthy child that is living up to their expectations. They are still very careful about showing these feelings to others, but it is clear they are proud of how he has developed and what he could become in the future. Doesn't stop them from throwing him into dangerous situations though, although it is clear that they are usually confident he will be able to survive them.
