The Frozen Rose

[2]

Birthday

Months have passed and it was Rina's 4th birthday. The Haruno couple along with their 4 year-old daughter, Sakura, was preparing for Rina's small birthday party. Rina was still asleep when they were preparing. At 9 am, Rina woke up and went down the stairs to see the Harunos smiling brightly at her and greeting her a happy birthday.
"Arigato, Tou-san, Kaa-san, Sakura-nee." Rina said and hugged them.
"You're welcome, dear." Kizashi said and handed her a purse, filled with money. "That's our gift to you, dear. Inside you'll see 10,000 yen, spend it wisely, ok?"
"Hai, Kaa-san, Tou-san." Rina says and went back inside her room. She went inside her bathroom to take a bath for 20 minutes then she dried herself and wore her bathrobe. She got out of the bathroom and went inside her walk-in closet.
"Hm.. What to wear.. What to wear.." She mutters to herself. Then she saw it. She wears her undergarments and short shorts first then she got her rose-designed black knee-lenght sleaveless dress and paired it with black doll shoes. Rina placed her purse inside her small white sling bag and started to comb her long light blue wavy hair. As she was combing her hair, a small katsuyo appeared on her shoulder with a small scroll on its back. Rina got the scroll and thank the slug before it disappeared in a puff of smoke. She opened the scroll and read the message.

"To our beautiful daughter,

Happy 4th Birthday Dear! Always remeber your father and I will always and forever will love you. We are proud to call you are daughter. Don't let anyone call you weak, ok? Without a proper beating. Hehe. So moving on.. We have a gift for you. Just go to Tai's weapon shop and he will give you something. We love you dear. Never forget that ok?

Love, T&J

P.S. This will be the last message we will send you dear, since the bounty hunters are more active nowadays. Please be safe ok?"

Rina smiled at her parents letter. She doesn't need gifts for her birthday but she greatly appreciates her parents efforts. Even if they are always cautious about their safety as a family because of the bounty hunters, they still managed to send her a gift. She sighed and placed the scroll inside her drawers full of scrolls- their scrolls- containing messages. Rina then went down the stairs, got an apple from the counter and said goodbye to her adoptive family. She walked silently towards Tai's weapon shop. As she walks quietly along the street, she watched Konoha's busy life. Rina smiles to herself as she felt someone close to her walk by her side.
"It's a rather nice day today, ne Ojii-sama?" Rina said while looking at the Hokage. Hiruzen smiled down at his granddaughter and patted her head.
"Yes, it is, dear. And happy birthday." He greeted as he handed Rina a pouch of money. "Inside, you will find 20,000 yen as my birthday gift to you."
"Arigato, jii-sama!" Rina said cheerfully as she hugged the Hokage. Hiruzen smiled and waved goodbye since he needs to do his duties as a hokage now. Rina skipped her way to the weapon shop and greeted the owner.
"Ohayo Tai-san!" She greeted happily.
"Ohayo Rina-chan!" Tai,the owner of the shop, replied. "I'll get your package right away."
Then Tai disappeared behind his counter and went to the back to get Rina's packages or in other words, her gifts. After 3 minutes, Tai went back carrying 2 medium boxes and one long box, maybe inside was a sword. Hm. Who knows?
"Here you go, Rina-chan and happy birthday." Tai-san said and gave her one box with 100 senbon needles in it and her three packages.
"Arigato Tai-san." Rina said and opened a thumb-sized scroll and sealed her gifts/packages inside.
After sealing her gifts, she said goodbye to Tai-san and went to a book store close by.
"Ohayo! Welcome to Kira's book store! How may I help you?" The lady at the counter greeted. Rina looked at the lady's name tag and saw the name 'Cherry'.
"Ohayo Cherry-san, may I know where the poisons, herbs and medical books are located? Also where can I find the latest bingo books, and also books about jutsus and the history of the hidden villages?" Rina said.
Cherry stared at the child and processed what she just heard from her.
How can someone like her, a four-year old, be interested in these kind of things?! She thought.
"Oh. The medical books along with the poison and herbs books are found on aisle 14 to 16. The bingo books on aisle 20. Books about jutsus are on aisle 6 and the books about the hidden villages should be found on aisle 1 and 2. Enjoy your shopping dear." Cherry cheerfully said to her young costumer.
"Arigato." Rina thanked her and proceeded to the designated aisles. The book store is not so big, so it means that she won't take so much time to pick her books. She got a cart and pushed it to aisle 1.
"Hm.. What to get.. What to get.." She mumbles as she moves to get her desired books to fill her empty bookshelf, "Oh! This is it. And this. Hm. How about this one? No. I already have this. Oh, I'll take this. And this. And this." That's what she said as she searches for her books from aisle 1 to the aisles where her desired books were placed. Rina got 2 books about the great nations along with the hidden villages in it and a book about famous shinobis. When she was at aisle 6, she got one book for each affinity- fire, lightning, water, wind, ice, earth and etc.