Okay, here's part four of my little story! Response to last edition 
was kind of tepid, so hopefully this installment should be interesting 
enough to warrant some response.

Scoop of the Day
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction

Disclaimer: I'm real tired, so suffice it to say that I had absolutely 
nothing to do with the creation of Ranma 1/2 and its hallowed characters. 
Rumiko Takahashi did, and I'm not her, okay?

Thanks to Mike W. Loader without whom this fic would never have gotten 
off the ground.

And an apology to Mike W. Loader for shamelessly stealing his ideas for 
journalism-style martial arts techniques.

Chapter Four: Noriko Strikes!

	Elsewhere in Furinkan High, Noriko's feature editorial was 
causing quite a stir. Ranma was already a minor celebrity among the 
students of Furinkan, and the "Informer's" article only served to 
heighten their fascination with the greatest teenaged martial artist 
Nerima had ever known. Students who were either friends or sympathizers 
with Ranma were slightly upset over the article and refused to believe 
its contents. On the other hand, the majority of students (particularly 
male ones who had never quite gotten over Akane Tendo) felt that the 
article was long in coming and that it was time that Ranma got his due. 
In either case, talk within the halls of Furinkan was all about Ranma 
Saotome and his innocence, or lack thereof. Even the journalism room 
itself housed a lively discussion of Noriko's handiwork.

	"Did you read Noriko's thing today? Pretty daring, huh? I never 
knew she had it in her!"



	"I guess she wants to end the year with a bang. You know, step on 
some toes while we're still alive."

	"I saw Suzuki and Gosunkugi last week after the attack. Saotome 
must have been really ticked off to do something like that to them!"

	"I thought Ranma only fought other martial artists. You really 
think he did it?"

	"Aw, come on. Who else could have? They were following Ranma when 
it happened. He probably got tired of all the attention."

	Suzuki put down his copy of the "Informer" and sighed. He had 
tried to convince Noriko as best as he could to delay printing the 
article until she could get more information, but she was adamant about 
getting her anti-Ranma article printed and was beyond convincing. Suzuki 
shook his head. He still couldn't remember what had happened that 
afternoon, but he was almost positive that it wasn't all Ranma's fault...

	A small object hit the back of Suzuki's head, and he quickly 
turned to see Gosunkugi strewing a copious quantity of small glass 
spheres about while wearing a pair of lit candles around his head.

	"That fool Saotome! Something terrible will happen to us soon, I 
know it!" Gosunkugi cast another handful of spheres onto the floor, which 
rolled in all directions. 

	"Gosunkugi! What the heck are you doing??" Suzuki asked, not just 
a little bit irritated at Gosunkugi's irrational behavior.

	Gosunkugi pointed to Suzuki's copy of the "Informer." 
"Noriko-san's article is going bring disaster on us all! Ranma might come 
to finish what he started!" He reached into his bookbag and produced 
another handful of glass bearings. "These Spheres of Blessing I ordered 
should shield us from danger." He hurled the bearings onto the floor. 
"That fool Saotome!"

	Suzuki sighed and decided that Gosunkugi had finally gone and 
lost his marbles.



	Ranma sat alone on the rooftop of Furinkan High, taking a 
breather from his morning "exercise." 

	"Feh. Jerks! Ganging up on me like that...," Ranma muttered to 
himself. The fight had ended much better than Ranma had expected it to, 
actually. Shortly after Kuno had returned, one of Sasuke's lines ended up 
entangling Kuno instead of Ranma, who took the opportunity to grab the 
line and hurl the pair as an improvised bolo into an incoming Principal 
Kuno, effectively pinning his arms to his sides. The principal's 
skateboard (with Principal Kuno, Tatewaki, and Sasuke on board) careened 
out of control into a set of mines, blowing the trio directly into the 
midst of the Chem Club, neatly immobilizing all parties involved. Ranma 
then leaped high into the air to dodge Miss Hinako's chi-absorbing blast, 
which continued under him and into the mass of arms and legs that 
belonged to the Chem Club, Principal Kuno, Sasuke, and Tatewaki Kuno. 
While Miss Hinako was busy draining the crowd of their chi, Ranma 
descended from his leap and landed on her (suddenly well-built) 
shoulders, giving him the perfect opportunity to hit Miss Hinako's five 
Happo-shiatsu points, effectively canceling out her draining abilities. 
Five for five.

	Ranma leaned back, hands behind his head. *Heh. Somehow, I don't 
think I got rid of them for good. They seemed really riled up about that 
article in the "Informer."* He pulled the article out from his pocket, 
staring at the pairs of pictures depicting him as some kind of criminal. 
*And next time, I might not be as lucky as I was this morning. I could 
take any one of those jerks on by themselves, but not if they all gang up 
on me like that.* 

	Ranma stared up at the sky listlessly. *I've got to do something 
about that article! People think I'm some kind of petty bully or 
something! If I don't, Hinako-sensei and Kuno-kouchou'll probably keep 
getting on my case, not to mention anyone else who wants a cheap shot at 
me.* He stared once more at the byline on the feature article. *Noriko 
Hirauchi, huh? I think it might be time for me to pay her a little visit.*



	When lunchtime arrived, Akane Tendo found herself sitting alone, 
which she found quite unusual. Most of the time, she would eat with 
Ranma, or Kuno would come spout poetry at her until she booted him into 
the sky, but this time, neither were anywhere to be seen. Come to think 
of it, none of her admirers were anywhere to be found. The whole morning, 
they had kept a wary distance from her, as if simply being near her was 
an invitation for disaster. Something that had to do with that article in 
the "Informer," and a giant brawl in the school lot that left seventeen 
students and two faculty members completely incapacitated. *Ranma had to 
have been involved in that fight,* Akane thought. *So where is he now? 
What if he got hurt, or...* Akane frowned, not liking the way her 
thoughts were going. *So what do I care if that baka gets hurt? Besides, 
in hand-to-hand combat, Ranma can't lose...can he?* 

	Akane's attention was suddenly diverted to a pair of students 
across the yard, one rather pale and skinny and the other sporting a red 
shirt and a ponytail. *Ranma!* she thought, letting out a sigh of relief 
without really knowing why. She started towards the pair and saw the 
other kid point out a direction to Ranma, who promptly nodded and headed 
off towards the school building. Akane quickened her pace and caught up 
to the other guy before he headed back to his bench. 

	"Er...Hikaru Gosunkugi, right?" Akane asked, seeing him closer 
up. "Do you know where Ranma went?"

	Gosunkugi sighed in ecstasy. *She spoke to me! Akane Tendo 
actually spoke to me!* he thought blissfully. He quickly snapped out of 
his reverie upon noticing the impatience on Akane's lovely face. 
"Uhh...Ranma wanted to know where Noriko-san was, so I pointed the 
journalism room out to him."

	Akane's face darkened for a moment. *Noriko?? Who's _she_??* "Oh, 
uh, thanks! See you later!" she said quickly, remembering her manners. 
She headed off in the same direction Ranma left in. *That baka better not 
be fooling around behind my back,* she thought a little angrily.

	Gosunkugi stood there, watching Akane head towards the school 
building. *'See you later,' she said!* Gosunkugi thought, sighing once 
more. *I'm in love...*



	Noriko sat at her desk munching on a sandwich and feeling quite 
pleased with herself. The article looked pretty good in the "Informer," 
and was already creating quite a stir among the students. Ranma was 
already getting special treatment from the others as a result, and it 
would probably take months before things would settle down. *That's what 
you get for terrorizing the school,* Noriko thought to herself.

	The door to the journalism room flew open, and in came a very 
disgruntled-looking Ranma Saotome. Noriko immediately jumped to her feet 
in alarm "May...may I help you?" she asked coldly, trying to keep the 
nervousness out of her voice. Noriko silently cursed herself for not 
realizing that a scenario like this might happen as a result of her 
article. 

	"Noriko Hirauchi, right?" Ranma growled. 

	"Yes...that's right. And you're Ranma Saotome," Noriko countered. 
"Wh-what do you want?"

	"I wanna know what the hell *this...*" Ranma held up a copy of 
Noriko's article and punched it for emphasis. "...What *this* is all about!"

	For the first time in a long while, Noriko was genuinely scared. 
Ranma definitely sounded angry, and there was no telling what he was 
capable of doing when provoked. Images of Ranma in combat, Ranma 
ruthlessly beating off assailants, and Ranma easily destroying school 
property flashed through Noriko's mind. *What if he tries to do something 
to me? There would be no one around to stop him... I hope I can remember 
my old training,* she thought desperately. *I never thought I would 
actually _hope_ I could remember my martial arts.* Noriko's hand groped 
around her desk looking for a penknife, a letter opener, *anything* that 
she could defend herself with if Ranma decided to become violent. Her 
fingers closed around a fountain pen Suzuki had given her when she first 
became editor-in-chief. It would have to do.

	"You tell me!" Noriko shot back. "You're the one who attacked my 
reporters for no reason!" Noriko slowly circled around the desk, looking 
for better spot from which she could defend herself.

	"Attacked your reporters?! Did you ever ask *me* what happened 
that afternoon? Let me..." 

	Ranma started to take a step forward, but his foot landed solidly 
on several of Gosunkugi's "marbles" and slipped out from under him. 
"Urk!" Ranma yelled as he pitched forward, straight towards Noriko.

	Up to this point, Noriko had been tensed, waiting for an 
aggressive move on Ranma's part. Still, Ranma's fall towards Noriko 
surprised her and it was all she could do to leap out of the way, lashing 
out with her pen in retaliation. Ranma managed to dodge the blow in 
mid-fall with some difficulty, but not without the tip of Noriko's pen 
tearing a gash into his shirt.

	Ranma landed neatly on his feet and assumed a defensive posture. 
"What the heck was that for??" he asked in bewilderment. *Was that a 
_pen_ she used to attack me with?*

	Seeing Ranma apparently dive at her in attack finally pushed 
Noriko beyond the point of reason. "So dooming the paper to extinction 
and injuring my reporters wasn't enough for you, is that it?!? You're 
going to try and kill me as well! Well, just you try it!!" Noriko lunged 
forward with her pen, letting her old martial-arts training flow back 
into her body.

	Ranma easily dodged the blow, flipping to the back of the room 
and out of the range of Noriko's weapon, which lodged itself in the 
corner of a nearby desk. "I'VE doomed your paper?? What the heck do you 
mean by that??"

	"It's YOUR fault that the 'Informer's' not going to receive 
funding!! Your destruction and mayhem are why the 'Informer' is going to 
die after this year!!" Noriko yelled, yanking her pen out from the desk. 
She grabbed a handful of pencil stubs from the desktop and hurled them in 
Ranma's direction. Ranma stepped to one side, letting the projectiles 
imbed themselves into the wall behind him, and immediately dropped and 
rolled to the other side to avoid another blow from Noriko. 

	"Your fault!!" Noriko screamed, letting loose another volley of 
pencil darts. The metal of Noriko's pen flashed cruel and deadly in the 
fluorescent light of the journalism room, forcing Ranma to dodge and 
weave to avoid each slice and cut. 

	*She wields that pen of hers like Kuno uses his bokken,* Ranma 
thought while avoiding yet another strike. *She's got potential, but not 
much else; I could probably dodge her attacks all day.* Ranma lifted his 
arm to let a pen-thrust slip under. *Still, I should probably put a stop 
to this before she hurts herself. Talking her down seems definitely out 
of the question, though, and I don't hit girls.*

	Noriko watched her umpteenth attack whoosh through empty air with 
frustration. *Why won't sit still?* she thought. *I'll just have to keep 
him from moving so much, then.*

	With a sharp tap to the end of her pen, Noriko caused a small jet 
of ink to shoot directly at Ranma's eyes. Ranma tried to dodge the stream 
of blinding ink, but was caught off guard by the unusual maneuver. *Geez! 
I should've been more careful,* Ranma chided himself. Quickly, he assumed 
a different stance, one that sacrificed power but allowed maximum 
reactivity and sensitivity to external stimuli. He detected a slight 
displacement in the air to one side and threw up his hands, catching the 
pencils before they could lodge themselves into his flesh. Noriko jabbed 
again and again with her pen, only to have each blow be parried by 
Ranma's hand while his free one worked on clearing his eyes. 

	*Darn it!* Noriko thought. *Time to put an end to this.* She 
picked up a pail of the extra-sticky laywax that Suzuki liked to use on 
his final layouts ("I could stick myself to the ceiling with this stuff," 
Suzuki had once bragged to Noriko). *Once I've stuck him to the ground 
with this stuff, he'll be completely helpless,* Noriko thought as she 
hefted the pail. *And then, I can deal with him as I please,* she thought 
darkly.

	Ranma had just succeeded in clearing the last of the ink from his 
eyes when Noriko hurled the contents of the pail all over him. *Hmph,* he 
thought as the fountain pen passed harmlessly past his ribcage. *What's 
she up to now? It doesn't really cut down on my mobility or nothing.* 
Noriko charged at Ranma with all her might, intending to knock him to the 
ground where he would stick hard and fast, but he instead caught her 
hands and gave way to her momentum, falling backwards. *Maybe if I put 
her flat on her back she'll quit fighting...what the...I can't complete 
the roll...I'm stuck!* Ranma held tightly onto Noriko's hands to keep her 
from flying forward and hurting herself and screwed his eyes tightly shut 
as he felt the *whump* of Noriko's body landing on top of his.

	After a long moment, Ranma opened his eyes again and looked 
straight up into the face of Noriko. She blinked a few times in 
astonishment before her face turned red with embarrassment and anger.

	"You pervert! Get off me!" Noriko yelled, trying her best to 
wrench herself free with little success.

	"Get off...you're the one on top of me!" Ranma yelled back, now 
very annoyed by the entire situation.

	Noriko blinked again. Unfortunately, Ranma was right. "Well, 
then...at least let go of me!"

	"I can't...your stupid glue...I'm stuck!" 

	Noriko sighed inwardly. *Now* what could go wrong? "Stop 
squirming; you're getting wax all over me!" she snapped.



	Akane roamed the halls of Furinkan, searching for the journalism 
room. *Gosunkugi had said that it was in the F-wing, but I can't find it 
anywhere,* she thought, scanning the numbers above each door. 

	"You pervert! Get off me!" came a faint, female voice from the 
end of the hall.

	"Get off...you're the one on top of me!" came an angry, male response.

	*That sounds like Ranma!* Akane thought. 

	"Stop squirming; you're getting wax all over me!" cried the 
female voice.

	Akane's face reddened as the meaning of the words registered in 
her brain. "Raaaannnnnmmmmaaaaa...," she growled as she ran towards the 
source of the voices. 



	"Any luck?" Noriko asked.

	Ranma grunted with the effort of trying to get up with Noriko 
still attached to his body. "No, I can't get any leverage! This is all 
your fault," Ranma muttered, looking away in an unsuccessful attempt to 
avoid Noriko's seemingly omnipresent glare.

	"My fault?? MY fault?? How is any of this MY fault??" Noriko 
asked, intensifying her glare by another notch.

	"It was YOUR glue; that's how it's your fault!"

	"Oh yeah? If you hadn't gone ahead and attacked me, none of this 
would have happened?"

	"Attacked??? Those marbles tripped me up; that's all! Why'd you 
think I would attack you of all people?"

	"For the same reason you attacked my reporters!"

	"For the last time, I didn't attack your reporters! I--"

	"Ranma no BAKA!!" yelled a third voice. Ranma with some effort 
turned his head towards the source and immediately turned pale.

	"A-Akane! This...this isn't what it looks like! I...I..." Ranma 
frantically tried to get up, but the weight of Noriko kept him held fast. 

	"You PERVERT!" Akane easily peeled Noriko away despite the laywax 
and tossed her to one side where she stuck to the wall. She then picked 
up Ranma and hurled him through the (fortunately) open window into the 
pool below. 

	"You can have that pervert for all I care!" Akane huffed as she 
stormed from the room. 

	*Great,* Noriko thought. *What else can go wrong now?*

	The chime sounded, signaling the end of lunch, and Noriko's crew 
began to trickle into the journalism room.


	
	"Are you all right?" Suzuki asked as he helped Noriko to the 
ground. Fortunately, the glue that held her to the wall was a relatively 
small amount, so detaching her from the wall was a relatively easy task. 

	"Yeah...I think so," Noriko said, cautiously running her hand 
through her hair. *I'll definitely have to take a shower before I get 
home, though.*

	"What the heck happened in here?" Suzuki looked around the room. 
There were pencils stuck in the walls, pen-sized holes in some of the 
desks and countertops, and laywax all over the floor. A few of 
Gosunkugi's marbles still mingled in the wax.

	"Oh, Ranma Saotome decided to pay a visit," she said casually, 
pulling her hand free from her hair. "Ouch!"

	"Ranma?? Did he try to hurt you or anything?" Suzuki looked 
genuinely concerned, which surprised Noriko a little bit. 

	"Well...not exactly," Noriko said, remembering the events of the 
"fight." *He never tried to throw an attack of his own at all,* she 
thought. *He...he was toying with me; that's what it was. He could have 
easily hurt me if he had wanted to...*

	"Well, if he comes back and tries to do anything, I'll...I'll..." 
Suzuki searched for a proper attack. "...I'll tell him off, that's what 
I'll do!" he finished rather lamely.

	"Noriko Hirauchi!! I'd like to see you in my office 
*immediately!*" thundered the voice of Watanabe-sensei. Noriko and Suzuki 
both turned to see Mr. Watanabe standing in the doorway, looking none too 
happy.

	*Swell,* thought Noriko.



	Noriko stood in Mr. Watanabe's office, not just a little bit 
nervous. Mr. Watanabe allowed Noriko to shift her weight uncomfortably 
for a few more moments before he spoke.

	"Miss Hirauchi," Mr. Watanabe began. "I arrived my office at noon 
from a conference only to find this on my desk." Mr. Watanabe gestured to 
a copy of the "Informer," turned to the pages containing Noriko's feature 
article. "Just what is the meaning of this?" His voice was deadly calm, 
which scared Noriko even more.

	Noriko shifted her weight to the other foot. "Well...Suzuki and 
Gosunkugi...came back from following Ranma all bandaged up...and so I 
decided to print it in the paper."

	"You printed it," Mr. Watanabe said. "This...this is not 
journalism. This is sheer tabloidary. Did you check your sources? Did you 
find any eyewitnesses of the incident? Did you interview the alleged 
perpetrator, Ranma Saotome, himself to find his side of the story?" Mr. 
Watanabe looked dead into Noriko's eyes.

	Noriko knew that she couldn't say anything but the truth. 
"I...iye. No, I didn't. There were no eyewitnesses of the event, and 
Suzuki and Gosunkugi couldn't remember a thing. I...I thought for sure 
that Ranma had done it."

	"You thought for sure. Unfortunately, you *thought,* but printed 
it as fact. You let your prejudgments cloud your thinking and you went 
ahead and printed something damaging that could very well not be true. 
*That,*" Watanabe-sensei paused for effect, "was not good journalism. Do 
I make myself clear?"

	"Un...I mean, hai, sensei."

	Watanabe-sensei exhaled in exasperation. "When I appointed you 
editor-in-chief, I had to keep reassuring myself that I wasn't making a 
mistake by giving you the position over Suzuki. Up until now, you had 
been proving yourself in your work. I let your work defend my decision, 
and you had always been efficient, professional, and talented." Watanabe 
looked dead into Noriko's eyes. "Don't make me reconsider everything I've 
said about you in the past year with this one mistake."

	Noriko looked at the floor, feeling a strange mixture of pride 
and shame. "Hai, sensei."

	"I want you to search out the *facts* about what happened that 
afternoon and print what you find. I expect this to be done within this 
week so that it can go in the next edition of the 'Informer.' A written 
retraction, of course, will have to be published."

	"But what if it turns out I'm right?" Noriko protested.

	"An apology would still be in order for your rashness. 
Correctness is not an excuse for speculation." Mr. Watanabe let his 
expression soften slightly. "Noriko," he said, less harshly. "I know the 
news of the 'Informer' has kept you preoccupied for the couple of weeks. 
Still, that doesn't mean you should throw away your last year. Remember, 
professionalism is paramount to everything else."

	"Hai, sensei."

	"You're free to go now. But I expect you to get to work on this 
immediately."



	Noriko walked back into the journalism room slowly. 
*Watanabe-sensei was probably right about my rashness,* she thought 
glumly. *I did sort of go off half-cocked with that feature of mine. 
Still, how am I supposed to go about looking for what really happened?*

	"Hey, Chief! You've got a note from the Principal Kuno! I left it 
on your desk!" called out Suzuki as he put the nine of diamonds on top of 
the ten of clubs.

	"All right; thanks!" Noriko walked to her desk, and after a 
moment of searching through the clutter, she located the office slip. 

	"Please report to my office at your earliest convenience," read 
the note, with Principal Kuno's signature on the bottom.

	*Great; what _now?_* thought Noriko.



	Noriko poked her head into the principal's office, not quite 
prepared for the sight of Hawaiian flowers, leis, and pineapples gaudily 
decorating the interior. She knocked on the door cautiously.

	"ALOHA, Noriko! Come on IN!" Principal Kuno practically shouted 
from behind his desk. He had completely recovered from the draining Miss 
Hinako had dealt him in the morning, and was feeling quite exuberant at 
the moment. Noriko slowly came in and had a seat on the beach chair in 
front of Principal Kuno's desk.

	"I...I got your note asking me to see you," Noriko said, not 
quite sure what she was doing in his office.

	"Ah, yes, my note! I'm GLAD you found it!" Principal Kuno said 
boisterously, leaning his head in close. Noriko tried her best to resist 
the temptation to squirm. 

	Principal Kuno withdrew his head. "I was reading your article in 
the 'Informer' this morning," the principal said, a little more quietly 
(which wasn't all that quiet, either).

	"Yes...um...I'm sorry; it didn't quite turn out the way I wanted 
it to--" Noriko began.

	"NONSENSE!" Principal Kuno interrupted. "I LOVED IT!" he shouted 
with glee. "It's about TIME that someone showed the world what a 
delinquent Ranma Saotome is!" 

	"Well, I..."

	"Yes, yes indeed! It was a work of art! Say," Principal Kuno 
whispered mock-conspiratorially. "I heard that the 'Informer' is having a 
little bit of trouble financially." He threw his head back and laughed.

	"Yes, that's true," Noriko admitted. *No thanks to you,* Noriko added.

	Principal Kuno stopped laughing abruptly, startling Noriko. 
"Well, if this is the kind of excellent work I can expect from the 
'Informer,' then I really don't see how financial matters could enter 
into the picture!" he said, looking Noriko straight in the eyes.

	Noriko was nonplused. "You...you mean to say that--"

	"OF COURSE!" Principal Kuno shouted, causing Noriko to jerk back 
in her seat in alarm. "I don't see how the 'Informer' could have slipped 
by the budget without getting funds. I must have been thinking about 
Hawaii again." Principal Kuno sighed as he gazed at the SURF poster 
directly over Noriko's head. "With this kind of work, I think I can 
arrange for the 'Informer' to receive enough funds to keep it afloat for 
another year. Now, you do understand that you can't breathe a word to any 
of your crew or, say, Mr. Watanabe as to what's been discussed here. 
Let's keep this our little secret. I mean, it would be a real tragedy if 
something were to happen to either you or your crew." Principal Kuno's 
gaze fell on the giant pair of shears which hung next to his desk.

	Noriko gulped.



	Noriko sat in the journalism room at her desk, feeling worse than 
ever. *Watanabe-sensei told me to go search for the truth to what 
happened that day and print a retraction, while Kuno-kouchou tells me 
that he'll grant funds to the 'Informer' because of my article.* Noriko 
looked up at the ceiling, trying to sort her thoughts. *Mr. Watanabe was 
right about the article, though; I should never have printed anything 
like that without checking the facts first. But what will happen when I 
print the retraction? Principal Kuno would never fund the paper then. My 
crew...I'd be letting them all down, letting the paper die like that.* 
Noriko turned her glance to the mess on her desk and cradled her head in 
her hands. *What if I couldn't find anything? I mean, no one would really 
be able to tell, and it _has_ been a week since the incident. If I just 
told Watanabe-sensei I couldn't find anything, he really couldn't expect 
me to print anything, could he? And everyone would still get to keep the 
'Informer.'* Noriko shook her head at that thought. *No, I've done enough 
unprofessional things these past couple of weeks. I'll just search the 
way I'm supposed to. I mean, I'm probably right about Ranma after all, 
and then the 'Informer' would still receive funding, and everyone would 
be happy, and...* Noriko let her thoughts wash over her in a jumble.

	A mug of steaming cocoa was placed in front of Noriko. She looked 
up and saw her layout editor standing in front of her desk. "S-Suzuki! 
You're still here?"

	"I saw you in here as I was getting ready to leave. You look like 
you need this more than I do," he said almost sheepishly, pushing the mug 
towards Noriko. 

	Noriko took the mug in her hands and took a small sip, savoring 
the flavor. It was a double-batch, with four small marshmallows and a 
dash of cinnamon...just the way she liked it. "Mmmmm...thanks. I needed 
that," she said gratefully, eagerly taking another sip.

	"Anyway, Gosunkugi forgot that he had this roll of film developed 
last week, and wants you to have it. The pictures are a week old, but 
maybe you'll find something you can print in the last issue or something.

	*Last issue.* The words echoed in Noriko's head. She took the 
envelope of photos from Suzuki. "Thanks."

	"I...guess I'll see you tomorrow, then," Suzuki said, heading 
towards the door. 

	"Suzuki...wait." Suzuki stopped halfway to the door. "About a 
week ago...those things I said to you...," Noriko began, not quite sure 
how to go about what she was trying to say.

	"Aw, forget it, Chief," Suzuki said, smiling as he left the room. 
The door clicked softly behind him.

	Noriko stared at the door for a few moments. *I guess I might as 
well take a look at those photos,* she thought, trying to shake off the 
weird feeling she couldn't quite explain. She opened the envelope and 
pulled out the photos inside.

	*Okay, here's some photos from the flower-arranging show,* she 
thought, looking at the photos. *Boy, that was a while ago! How old is 
this roll, anyway?* She idly flipped through a few of the photos, 
laughing to herself at a particularly horrendous flower arrangement done 
by a short-haired girl. *Akane...Ranma's really engaged to her, huh? Sure 
doesn't seem like it...* 

	She flipped a photo and saw a picture of Ranma engaged in combat 
with a bandanna-clad boy with an umbrella. *What the...when was this 
taken?* Noriko looked at the bottom corner of the photo and saw the date 
printed there by Gosunkugi's rather fancy camera. She frowned and looked 
at the calendar hung on the wall next to her. *Why...that's the day I 
sent Suzuki and Gosunkugi to follow Ranma! There was someone else there?* 

	Quickly, she flipped to the next photo to see more combat shots 
of Ranma and Ryoga. *Suzuki and Gosunkugi aren't anywhere to be seen in 
these photos, so they must be behind the camera. So, how did Suzuki and 
Gosunkugi end up the way they were the next day?*

	The next photo had Ranma pinning Ryoga to the ground. *Looks like 
the fight was finished here, but what's that thing the other guy's doing 
with his arm? And he's shouting something, from the looks of this picture.*

	Next photo. Ryoga had jabbed his finger into the concrete. 
*Around his finger...there. A point blast?* The next few photos were 
taken in rapid succession, judging from the time printed on the photos. 
The blast around Ryoga's finger was getting bigger and bigger, throwing 
shrapnel and broken pieces of concrete all around. Ryoga and Ranma were 
airborne in the next photos, and the last photo was completely obscured 
by broken concrete, dust, and shrapnel.

	*Wait, if this was the viewpoint of the camera, and Suzuki and 
Gosunkugi were behind the camera the whole time...* The photos slipped 
from Noriko's fingers as the pieces clicked into place. *Oh, no! Ranma 
was telling the truth the whole time! The paper! My crew! What have I 
done!? What have I DONE!?* Noriko lay her head on the desk and sobbed 
bitterly, all alone in the empty journalism room.


End part four

Okay, that's it for now! That was quite a bit longer than I thought it 
would be. But first, a few concerns I have regarding this fic:

As I stated in the beginning, response to my last posting was tepid at 
best. Do you guys want to see this story finished? Your responses are the 
main thing that fuels meto crank out the next part. The less response I 
get, the longer it takes me to write a part. So, *please, please please 
PLEASE* send me comments, criticism, flames, etc. about this part. 
Whether you liked it, hated it, or never want me to write another piece 
of fanfiction ever again, send me some kind of response.

Okay, now about the story:

I don't know very much about Principal Kuno at all, and have had to go 
from what I've heard and what P-Word sent me (thanks!). If I'm doing 
Principal out of character, please let me know (specific details will 
help) so that I can fix it in the rewrite.

Okay, next: Noriko's moves. I think they're a bit outlandish for the type 
of story this is, and for the type of person Noriko is. Still, I couldn't 
resist the temptation of having my main character know journalism-style 
martial arts. Any comments?

Also, Noriko's dilemma isn't coming out quite the way I want it to. It 
seems a bit forced right now, but it's important that she have a real 
dilemma to deal with. Any ideas (Zen, Travis, Mike...anyone?)?

And some people have wrote me commenting that I shouldn't use so many 
add-in characters as it detracts from the Ranmaverse. Well, I wish I 
could have done this without having to create a single character (well, 
except Noriko; I'm starting to take a liking to my main character :P), 
but the more I thought, the more I needed more add-ins to flesh out the 
story. I tried to put "real" Ranma characters where I could, but there 
came a certain point where it stretched credibility to put an 
already-established character in there (I'm particularly pleased at 
Gosunkugi-the-photographer). Any ideas on reducing add-ins?

So, in conclusion, send me comments of all sorts about this installment! 
Please! It's what keeps me writing. Thanks all for listening to me 
babble, and have a good night!

---
Raphael See