Okay, hope you all had a splendid Labor Day!
    Here's part Three of my fanfic. Travis Butler will be pleased to note 
that there are *gasp* lines between paragraphs! :P As always, these are 
rough drafts and are subject to intense C&C (meaning, pour it on already!)

Scoop of the Day
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction

Disclaimer: Ranma and company don't belong to me. I'm not Rumiko 
Takahashi. But Rumiko Takahashi is Rumiko Takahashi, and Ranma and 
company do belong to her. I write this to ward off boredom and because I 
like Ranma 1/2.

Thanks to Mike W. Loader, without whom Noriko, Suzuki, and the rest of 
the "Furinkan Informer" would end up in a dark, damp corner of my mind 
and doubtless die of malnourishment.

Chapter Three: I'm Editor-In-Chief


	The after-school meeting in the journalism room was starting to 
wind down, and Noriko was handing out the last of the assignments for the 
week. "So, we've got Wataru covering this week's damage and Takaya doing 
the rugby game, right? Right." Noriko paused for a moment, making sure 
that there wasn't anything else that needed to be taken care of. With 
Watanabe-sensei out of town for the week, Noriko was left with the job of 
conducting meetings for the newspaper, and she didn't want to forget 
anything important. "Okay, that's it for this week, then. Thanks for all 
of your hard work, and keep it up!" The meeting ended as the students got 
up and slowly trickled out the door. Noriko sat back down at her desk, 
grateful for another meeting gone smoothly without interruption from some 
disaster.

	"Hey, Chief, some of us are going out to the Nekohanten for some 
ramen. Wanna come?" Suzuki called from the door. The bandages that 
covered his body a few days ago were gone now, and the major wounds were 
starting to disappear.

	Noriko hesitated. "Um...no, thanks, I'm going to stay behind and 
work a bit on a special project for next edition."

	Suzuki looked a little disappointed. "Okay, Chief; see you 
tomorrow, then," Suzuki waved as he disappeared out the door.

	Noriko returned the wave. "See you tomorrow!" She watched the 
last of her crew leave the room. *Okay, now to get down to the special 
payback I have in store for our little disaster area,* she thought as she 
flexed her fingers.


	Suzuki and his friends continued down the hall on their way to 
the Nekohanten. "Hey, Hikaru, this is the third day this week that 
Chief's stayed behind after school," he remarked to Hikaru Gosunkugi.

	"Mmmhmm. So?" He absent-mindedly adjusted a bandage on his arm. "Ouch!"

	"Well..." Suzuki scratched his head, not sure how to phrase what 
he was about to say. "I'm a little worried about her, I guess. Chief 
hasn't been acting like herself lately, writing all those things against 
violence and martial arts for the 'Informer.' And now she seems to be 
obsessed with getting some kind of scoop on Saotome. You think she's 
getting in over her head?" At first, Suzuki had simply dismissed her 
recent fascination with Ranma to the sudden news of the "Informer's" bad 
financial standings, but her behavior had continued to progress past the 
point of Suzuki's comfort. He hoped that she wasn't letting the news get 
the better of her.

	Gosunkugi thought for a moment, but another crew member had 
overheard Suzuki's concerns and decided to answer for him. "Aaahhhh, it's 
probably that time of the month for her or something," he remarked 
carelessly. A few of the others laughed in response, but their laughter 
quickly died when Suzuki whacked the eavesdropper on the head. 

	"I wasn't talking to you!" Suzuki snapped. *Next time, I'll keep 
my mouth shut,* he thought to himself.


	More than two and a half hours had passed since school had let 
out, and the halls of Furinkan High were devoid of students. The faculty 
had all gone home, and even the janitorial staff had called it a day. 
However, in the journalism room, a light remained on as Noriko stayed 
hunched over her desk, hard at work.

	*Hmmm...a little too crass,* she thought, frowning at the words 
on her paper. This feature article was going to be the culmination of her 
research and vendetta against Ranma Saotome, and Noriko wanted it to be 
the finest piece of work she had ever done. She scratched out some choice 
words with a pencil and scribbled in some others. Noriko smiled inwardly 
and rewarded herself with a swig of cocoa, obviously pleased with the 
change. *When this gets out on paper, you'll pay for what you've done to 
me...what you've done to the "Informer,"* she thought. 

	A nagging doubt crossed her mind again. Should she really go 
through with this? It wasn't exactly the most ethical thing to be done, 
and it could really be bad for the "Informer" if things got out of 
control. Mr. Watanabe was out of town for the next week; maybe she should 
wait until the edition after and get his approval, or forget this crazy 
idea altogether, or...

	Noriko shook her head again, chasing away her conscience. *It 
_is_ his fault, and he deserves this!* Noriko clenched her fist without 
realizing it. *He's the one that's responsible for all the property 
damage and chaos that's happened for the past year, and he's always 
gotten away with it! I'm the only one that can show everyone the truth!* 
Her conscience jabbed her once more at the word "truth," and Noriko tried 
once more to shake off her trepidation.

	The door opened, and Noriko looked up to see Suzuki in the door. 
"S-Suzuki! What're you doing here?" she asked, surprised. 

	"I left my bookbag here by mistake and came back to get it." 
Suzuki picked it up from where he had left it and walked over to Noriko's 
desk. "So, Chief, what's this feature you're working on?" He looked down 
at the scratch layout before Noriko could cover it up and gulped at its 
contents. "Uh...Chief, you're going to print this?"

	"Well...yes," Noriko responded uneasily. "Is there something wrong?"

	Suzuki paused for quite a while before answering. "Well...it 
seems a bit harsh, doesn't it? I mean, you don't know for sure everything 
you've got down there, that is, um..."

	Noriko's temper began to flare. "Are you questioning my judgment 
as a journalist??"

	Suzuki quailed a bit, fearful of what might come next. "Yes! I 
mean, no! I mean, maybe you should think about it a little before you go 
and do something you might regret..." Suzuki trailed off uneasily, but 
quickly regained his trail of thought. "Chief, this isn't like you," he 
said with a little more resolve in his voice. "For the past week and a 
half, you've done nothing but blame everything that's wrong on Ranma. 
It's almost..." Suzuki searched for just the right words. "...It's almost 
as if you've got some kind of vendetta against this guy whom you don't 
even know. Really, maybe you should rethink printing this project."

	Noriko stood up from her desk, fuming. "Just because you're a 
year older than me doesn't mean that you know everything, you know!! I've 
been working on this a long time, and I'd think you'd realize that I've 
already looked into everything as best as I could before starting this 
project!!" Noriko realized in the back of her mind that her last 
statement was only half-true, but her temper had been triggered and there 
was no turning back. "I'm just as good a journalist as anyone else on the 
'Informer,' including you! And furthermore, as editor-in-chief of the 
'Informer,' I have final say on what gets printed if Mr. Watanbe's not in 
town, which means that I don't have to listen to anything you or anyone 
else has to say to me! It's my prerogative to do special features, and 
I'll be darned if anyone is going to stop me!!" She slammed her fist on 
the desk for emphasis.

	Several tense moments passed before Suzuki slowly turned away and 
headed for the door. "All right, Chief, if that's the way you'll have it, 
then I guess I won't stand in the way," Suzuki said, obviously affected 
by Noriko's tirade. He paused as he reached the door and sighed. "Still, 
I think you might be making a mistake on this," he said over his shoulder 
before the door clicked shut behind him.

	Noriko slowly sank back to her seat, slightly shocked at the way 
she had responded to Suzuki's obviously well-intended statements. He was 
a full grade higher than her, after all, and had actually been next in 
line for editor-in-chief before Noriko had showed up and took the 
position instead. Unlike what most people would have been in his 
situation, though, he had been nothing but supportive of Noriko, 
teasingly giving her the moniker "Chief" as a subtle reminder of what she 
had taken from him. Noriko appreciated the high-quality work Suzuki 
produced under her command as layout editor. Others certainly wouldn't 
have done likewise, and Noriko wasn't even sure if she would have done 
the same had the situation been reversed. And now, she had just told him 
off, pulling rank and shoving his sacrifice back in his face.

	Noriko held her head in her hands and sighed. *No use trying to 
undo what's been done, I guess,* she thought somewhat despondently. *I'd 
better get back to finishing this feature of mine; after all, I did say 
that I was going to print it. Darn it! If it weren't for all those 
martial artists, this wouldn't be happening to me.*


	Deadline day arrived once again for the "Informer," and the crew 
was once again scrambling to turn in their assignments before it was time 
to send the final layout to the presses. 

	"Where's that rugby story I assigned??" Noriko hollered.

	"Here it is, Noriko!" Noriko snatched the paper up and quickly 
skimmed it.

	"Who's got the pictures from the flower arrangement show from 
last week?"

	"It's on your desk in a white envelope!" Noriko found the 
envelope under a stack of paperwork.

	"Okay, what about the interview with Miss Hinako?"

	"Uhh...give me another minute or two to get it printed out! I'll 
have it soon, I swear!"

	Noriko looked at her watch. *Not bad at all. The "Informer" might 
even make it to the presses only a few minutes behind schedule at this 
rate,* Noriko thought, pleased at the efficiency of her crew as Suzuki 
approached her desk with the layout in hand. 
	"Okay, Chief, here's the layout so far. We've got the usual headline--"

	"Student Brawl Causes Damage to School?"

	"Yeah, that one. And here's how the rest looks." Suzuki handed 
the layout to Noriko.

	Noriko examined it. It was good as always. "Think you've got room 
for a special feature?"

	Suzuki's face fell. "Yeah, I can make room. How long is it?" 
Noriko handed her layout of the feature to Suzuki, who slowly went back 
to work to find a spot for it on the "Informer."

	*I'll have to make it up to him sometime,* she thought, 
remembering the argument she had with Suzuki just a few afternoons ago. 
*Still, it feels good to know that Ranma will finally get what's coming 
to him. I just wish the paper didn't have to go with it.* Noriko leaned 
back in her chair and exhaled in relief. *Maybe now I can start 
concentrating on how to save the paper instead of all this craziness.*


	"What?" Ranma asked in disbelief. "My name's in the 'Informer?'" 

	"Yeah, it's a real doozy, too. What did you ever do to those two, 
anyway?" Hiroshi asked.

	"I don't know what you're talking about," Ranma said, taking the 
paper away from Hiroshi to see for himself. "'Student Brawl Causes Damage 
to School: Disagreement between martial artists becomes out of hand...big 
deal; that story's been in every edition of the paper anyway."

	Daisuke shook his head. "No, not on the front page, in the 
special insert in the middle." He reached over and pulled out another 
sheet. "Here; read this."

	Ranma glanced at the page. "WHAT!?" he yelped in shock. In big 
bold letters on the top of the sheet were the words "MARTIAL ARTS: CRIME 
FODDER?" Directly underneath the headline were photos of Ranma in both 
male and female form from the front and from the side. "These...these 
look like mug shots or something!" Still in shock, Ranma read the first 
few sentences in the first paragraph. 

	"In the ancient days, practitioners of martial arts adhered 
closely to the principles of bushido and budo, the ways of the warrior. 
Honor and integrity were valued above all, and the warrior code 
transcended any animalistic lust for violence. However, these values have 
gone into decline as time has progressed, and today martial arts are less 
of a code of honor than simply a more efficient way of beating an 
opponent into submission. In the case of Furinkan High," Ranma paused and 
gulped. "In the case of Furinkan High, which houses a relatively large 
amount of proficient martial artists, countless cases of destruction and 
mayhem have occurred within the last two years, all in the name of 
martial arts. Property damage, truancy, insubordination, delinquency, and 
harassment can all be found on the list of offenses committed by Furinkan 
martial artists. Just a few days ago, however, the latest and possibly 
most deplorable addition was made to this list in the form of assault and 
battery when Ranma Saotome brutally attacked two of the 'Informer's' 
reporters pursuing a story." Immediately after the paragraph was a recent 
photo of Suzuki and Gosunkugi after the incident with Ryoga. They looked 
terrible, with bandages all over and leaning on crutches. 

	"That's a lie!" Ranma nearly shouted. "I told them to haul their 
butts out of there, but they wouldn't listen! It's not my fault they 
stuck around to get caught in the blast!"

	"So, you didn't attack them?" Hiroshi asked.

	"No!" Ranma yelled. "Why would I? They couldn't have defended 
themselves if their lives depended on it!"

	"So what're you going to do about it?" asked Daisuke.

	Ranma folded the paper and slipped it into his pants pocket. 
"Nothing, that's what. I mean, what's anyone going to do, huh? If anyone 
asks me, I'll just tell 'em what happened. Who's gonna believe..." Ranma 
pulled out the article again and looked at the byline. "...some girl 
named Noriko Hirauchi, anyway?"

	"Ranma Saotome, you vile miscreant and cur! Prepare to pay for 
your trespasses!" a voice shouted from the distance. Ranma sighed and 
followed the familiar voice to a student dressed in blue robes wielding a 
wooden bokken. Ranma's friends quickly scurried away, knowing what was 
coming next.

	"Aw, man, Kuno, I'm not in the mood for this, okay?" Ranma said, 
slowly getting up to his feet.

	"Silence, wretch!" Kuno pointed his bokken at Ranma. "So, your 
cowardice has driven you to prey on defenseless students for your 
pleasure!" Kuno held up a page from the "Informer" for emphasis. "It is 
apparent that I, Tatewaki Kuno, must bring you to justice!" He charged at 
Ranma, bokken pointed straight at Ranma's heart.

	"I take it back," Ranma muttered to himself as he casually 
vaulted over the point of Kuno's bokken, delivering a kick to the back of 
his head on his descent. "Maybe this article business isn't so hot after 
all."

	"I shall exact divine retribution on you!" Kuno screamed as he 
recovered from the kick, falling into his blinding pattern strike. 
Without so much as batting an eye, Ranma reached out and snapped the 
bokken in two with a powerful straight punch, following up by punting the 
disarmed kendoist into low earth orbit. 

	"Geez. Well, if it's just Kuno that's worked up about that 
article, it ain't so bad, I guess."

	"Aloha, Ranma!" Ranma jerked his head up and saw a Hawaii-decked 
man on a skateboard hurtling towards him. "It's time to punish you for 
your misbehavior!" Pineapple bombs began exploding around Ranma as he 
frantically dodged. 

	"Yow!" Ranma nimbly leaped another explosion only to narrowly 
miss having his ponytail snipped off by Principal Kuno's shears. "I am 
*definitely* not in the mood for this," he muttered, swatting aside 
several giant nets that Principal Kuno had hurled along with the 
pineapple bombs. *I gotta get someplace without bystanders; those bombs 
could really hurt someone!* he thought quickly, remembering the incident 
with Ryoga. Ranma leaped another bomb and flipped behind a corner, 
intending to ambush the principal as he emerged from behind the wall. 

	"Ranma Saotome, you are a naughty delinquent! Picking on 
defenseless reporters! You should be taught a lesson!" came a 
high-pitched, female voice from behind him. Ranma whirled to see a short 
girl in a yellow dress holding a five-yen piece in front of her. "Yoiko 
no taizo, step one! Happo-go-yen-zatsu!" 

	"EEYAARGH!" Ranma howled in frustration, barely dodging the 
debilitating chi-absorbing blast. Principal Kuno emerged from behind the 
corner and started assailing Ranma with renewed fervor. Ranma frantically 
ran, dodging nets, pineapple bombs, and chi-absorbers all at once. He saw 
a row of bushes and was nearly blown to bits by a set of hidden land 
mines when he tried to dive behind them. Ranma heard snickering from one 
side. 

	"At last, Akane Tendo will be ours!" cackled the president of the 
Chem Club as the Chem club activated mine after mine, gleefully watching 
Ranma handle two assailants and a mine field at once.

	"Happo-go-yen-zatsu!"

	"Time for a haircut!"

	"And now, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High shall smite you!" 
Kuno had landed from his assisted flight and charged madly at Ranma with 
a new bokken supplied by Sasuke, who threw nets, snares, ropes, lines, 
and anything else the gopher-faced ninja could produce from the folds of 
his uniform.

	*This could be bad,* Ranma thought to himself. 


End part three

Okay, that's it for now! A few comments on this part before I sign off 
and work on part four:
    This chapter didn't come very easily. The major struggles Noriko goes 
through are partially influenced by the comments of Travis Butler and 
Zen, who I'd like to thank for providing useful, insightful C&C. Looking 
back at it, I'm sure that it could be done better, but as it is, I can't 
thing of a way to do so. (That means that your C&C is especially needed 
right now.) Also, this chapter isn't quite as fast-paced and wacky as the 
other two, which concerns me just a little bit (only a little, mind 
you). However, things should get better in the next installment (yes, I 
know I said that last time).
    So, *please* send me comments and criticism, or just a simple reply 
on how I'm doing. Thanks to all of you who have supported me so far in my 
first venture into the world of fanfiction, and part four should be out soon!

---
Raphael See