Venus as a Boy (~a KiMa Soul Eater story~)

The Book of Eibon

The steam rose up in clouds in the locker room as the girls hurried to wash and dress so they would have as long a lunch period as possible. Gym class had been grueling as usual, so everybody needed to wash, but no one wanted to give up more precious free time than they had to. Liz Thompson in particular was rushing to get through her shower so she could get ready and get out the door.

"Come on, Patti! Faster! Scrub faster!" she cried.

"Okay, Sis!" replied Patti, soap suds flying from her washcloth.

Maka, standing at the shower head on Patti's other side, got a face full of them and spluttered. "Hey! Watch it! I was trying to keep from having to wash my hair today. What's the rush anyway?"

"Sorry Maka," singsonged Patti, "Sis met some guy who works at the new burrito place and wants to make it all the way over there for lunch."

"Psh," grumbled Maka, still rinsing soap out of her eyes. "That's no reason why I should get a face full of bubbles."

"Sorry, Maka, but he's really hot. And he has the most badass eyebrow piercing! He told me he was going to make me something special next time I came in, so I've got to dry my hair and redo my makeup before we go." Liz was already heading out of the shower area and hurrying to get a towel. Maka finished rinsing off and came over to retrieve her own towel.

"Say, you wanna come too?" Liz asked from under her towel where she was vigorously rubbing the water out of her hair. "The food is way more delicious than anything in the cafeteria."

Maka hesitated. If she went with the Thompson sisters it was unlikely she'd make it back to class on time. Normally, this would make the decision for Maka, but this afternoon was Marie's class, and since she'd announced her pregnancy and that she'd be retiring at the end of the term, the class had become a joke. Marie mostly waxed on about the benefits of cloth diapers versus disposables, how to safely cosleep in the same room as a mad scientist, and other childcare issues that Maka did not want to think about so early in her career. She also had turned Liz down the last time she'd been invited to lunch, and while Liz and Patti weren't her closest friends, she didn't want to get a reputation for being cold.

"Ooh, that new place on Cemetery Ave?" asked Tsubaki, drifting over after finishing her own shower. "I've been wanting to try it."

Liz looked at her askance, and even the often socially clueless Maka could tell Liz hadn't been planning on inviting the tall brunette.

"What?" asked Tsubaki, stricken at the thought that Liz had something against her.

Patti came over, giggling, and slapped Tsubaki on the back. "Take it as a compliment! Liz doesn't care about us kids coming along, but she's worried you'd be competition!"

Tsubaki and Maka didn't look like they knew what to do with that remark, while Liz tried to run damage control. "That's not it—Patti and Maka are plenty cute too—just different types..." Then her expression turned coy and mischievous, "but I suppose I am a little worried, I mean, you were the last of our group to change back in the Book of Eibon. How do I know your lustful nature won't get the better of you when faced with the hot burrito guy?"

Tsubaki spluttered. "I don't know what that was about!" she protested. "Besides, Blair was after me, and Maka was in the Sloth chapter—so we don't know when she turned back."

Maka, still amused by her friends' stories of Tsubaki's humiliation in the Book of Eibon, shook her head.

"I was back to a girl body as soon as we stepped into Sloth. Soul was back to normal too. Good thing—it pissed me off to see what kind of girly-girl he was. That hair! It was so over the top. His nails were even pink! I wouldn't have thought a girl version of Soul would be like that."

"Well, TOC told us at the start that our appearance was ourselves as the opposite gender with our own sexual desires overlaid," Liz reminded.

"So Soul must really like girly girls," clarified Patti.

At this, Maka looked down. She'd known it was true—his obsession with Blair's breasts was a pretty clear indication that her skinny body type wasn't his ideal. Still, seeing the beautiful, put together girl version of Soul was somehow insulting. Maka had never been clear about how deep and in what direction her feelings for Soul ran, but it was hard not to see the episode as a rejection.

She strapped her plain white bra on and pulled her uniform shirt on over it. Liz had turned on her hairdryer much to the annoyance of the other girls in the locker room who now had to shout to be heard.

"If Tsubaki promises to keep her lustful thoughts to herself, can she come anyway?" Maka yelled to Liz.

"Yeah!" Liz shouted back. She felt bad for starting this whole thing. Sure, she didn't want Tsubaki's long hair and long legs in competition for burrito boy's attention, but she didn't want to hurt her feelings over it. "But no moves on my man Nakatsukasa! And cover up those legs!"

She tossed a pair of blue jeans out of her bag at the ninja blade and Maka rolled her eyes. Liz sure was serious about hunting down attractive dudes. Tsubaki seemed a little hurt still, but she pulled them on anyway. Maka dressed in her school uniform, not wanting to make herself even later by having to change again when they returned after lunch. Her hair had gotten a little bit wet, but not so bad that she couldn't tie it up. Maka did up her favorite pigtails, taking the time to get them just so, and as she looked in the mirror, satisfied, she caught Liz's eye from further down on the row of sinks. She had finished with the blowdryer and was on to the less noisy straightening iron.

"Speaking of the Book of Eibon," said Liz slyly, though Maka had thought they were done with the subject, "It's too bad you switched back so soon Maka. If you were just a little pervier, Black Star wouldn't have had to fight Kid at all."

Patti giggled, but Maka looked perplexed. "What do you mean? I thought he'd been swayed by the Madness of Order and needed to be shaken up to get out of it. Besides, it would have been really awkward to have to fight as a boy..."

Liz and Patti laughed, and even Tsubaki smiled.

"I don't think Liz was suggesting you fight him," she said with a knowing grin.

"I think Kid would have been shaken enough to see the Maka-Kid hybrid staring back at him," said Liz, carefully applying dark eyeliner in the mirror. "I mean, seriously, if you hadn't kept the blond hair, you could have been his twin."

"Wh—what?" Maka stuttered. "You think I looked like Kid in the Book of Eibon?"

"Welllll," hummed Tsubaki, "You still had your own hair color, and were only a bit taller, but..."

"White suit with black tie," said Patti.

"Short hair, but enough to get a cute little cowlick," said Liz.

"You even had a badass longcoat like the one Kid used to wear before he decided it was too likely to fold one way more than the other when he sat down in it," said Patti with a nod.

"Aaand you were such a 'serious young man', but just pervy enough to get flustered by that succubus," said Liz with a gesture, as if this completed the picture.

Maka was mystified. "You thought I looked like Kid? But...but we don't look anything alike!"

The three others shared a laugh at her expense.

"I know, Maka, that's what we're saying," Tsubaki said patiently. "You don't look anything like Kid—"

"—yet your lustful boy version was a sandy-haired Kid look-alike." finished Liz with a serious nod. She turned back to her reflection to finish up her eye makeup.

Maka still looked bewildered as she slipped on her shoes and picked up her bag. The others finished dressing and Liz gave herself a last look in the mirror.

"So, you think Kid and I are alike in other ways?" Maka asked hesitantly.

Liz rolled her eyes, and pushed open the locker room door.

"That's one way of looking at it," said Tsubaki gently, "but another way is that Kid—"

"KID!" Liz exclaimed.

A/N: Do you think Boy!Maka looked like Kid too? I reeeeally did! If you enjoyed please vote below! Thanks!