I wasn't going to abandon my sister. She'd already had that happen once, you know? No one deserves to be all alone.

[ Which at thirteen had been the only reason he needed in the world to accept a monster in. Besides, Murasame has been a mostly... mostly nice monster. Or at least relatively well behaved. ]

Kaya's a pretty name. And you never forgot her advice, either, see? [ A pause. THen, with a lower voice and a more introspective look on his face; ] I guess that's what the one guy meant, about remembering the people we love even when they're gone.

[ Which isn't given context, but as a conversation that'd happened between Immortals, the point to it had been: they might not be here, but you still being alive means their memory at least lives on. Shino still doesn't know if that's a tradeoff he can live with, watching everyone he loves grow old and die until he's the only one left. He doesn't think the dog warriors have any destined rebirth thing going on, so once they're all dead... he's alone. There isn't going to be anyone else, without him trying to make friends, and losing those ones too, lifetime after lifetime.

He flexes his toes, feeling their pruned nature and wrinkling his nose. ]

We're going to turn into water monsters if we stay in here too long.