EDIT- IMPORTANT AUTHOR"S NOTE: January 20th, 2019 - Hey all, what's up?

I first started this story back in 2013 when I was still a relatively new writer. Since then, the story went on a short hiatus as I went though life and plotting out how I wanted this story to go. It was a battle, but I've gone back and actually re-written the chapters here in a better writing format from the original one it was in. Don't worry, it still retains the original story line and plots it had, it's just better written now and less cringey (I hope.)

The only changes in the story are: Sakasu's name has now been changed to a British name more fitting for the Victorian Era.

Anyway, please enjoy this story and all the love and hardwork I put into it. It was the first story I started out writing.

- Jamie

I Love the You That You Hate

Chapter 1: A New Beginning

If you were to ask her, she couldn't remember much about her past life. She didn't really want to. It was all one big blur of darkness she forced herself to forget. And now she was running, running away from it all, that horrible place that caused her heart nothing but pain.

She was running to find a place where she belonged.

Walking around town she had come across a flyer about a place called The Noah's ark Circus. It had a picture of people smiling on it and the caption read: "Come to the Circus, a place where you can belong and call home!"

For some reason it spoke through to her during her dark time. Eliza "Sakasu" Bennett was born into an upper class family that had a reputation to uphold, but ever since she was born her parents didn't think she was capable of doing such a task and favored her older brother over her. Eliza had a special gift she was born with and only her brother accepted her for it while their parents thought she was crazy.

Having to suppress her abilities was hard on her, but having Kai to help her through it and talk to about it made it easier. Kai Bennett was a year older than his sister and he ended up working with the queen alongside his childhood friends, Charles Grey and Charles Phipps. He had a good future ahead of him until his life was cut short, something Eliza and her parents blamed herself for.

Tired of her parents abuse and the dreadful feeling of what happened, she needed a new start. It was hard to go about that in a society such as the one they lived in. There was only one way for her to get the new start she needed and not end up as a prostitute. Holding the flyer she tore off the wall in her hand, she had finally come to the edge of the forest and found the circus.

"I made it." She breathed out, slumping against a tree. "This is it. This is my new beginning!"

Her parents thought she was nothing but a freak because of her ability, so Eliza decided to finally run away and join the freaks. Since her brother died there was nothing tying her to her old life anymore.

Entering the circus grounds, she saw a row of tents scattered about the area. The huge main tent where the shows where held was in the distance. It was currently quiet as Eliza realized a show wasn't going on. Looking around, she wondered where she should go to speak with someone.

In her confusion she ended up accidentally bumping into a man. "I-I'm sorry, sir."

The man with red orange hair and a skeleton arm waved her off, smiling. "It's okay, miss. It's there anythin I can help ye with?"

"Y-Yeah. I'm looking for the leader of the circus." Eliza answered, holding up the flyer she held in her hand. "I wanted to join."

The man bowed, before looking back up at her. "I'm the leader of the circus. The name's Joker!" He pulled out a card with the Joker on it, smiling at her. "We'll have to test your skills and see what you can bring to the circus before we let you join."

"Of course!" Eliza said, looking to him with a smile. "I may not be the best, but I do have some talent in magic."

Joker was silent for a little, looking her over and studying her. She was obviously from a noble family, so why did she want to join a place like this? It was all very curious. "So if you don't mind me asking, why does a young woman from a noble family want to join a place like this?" Joker asked.

This caused Eliza to suddenly tense up, her smile fading. Joker noticed the sad look in her eyes. "I have my reasons...I just need a new start."

Deciding to not push the matter on her anymore, Joker waved it off. "That's good enough for me. You don't have to tell me the full story if you aren't ready yet. Everyone deserves a new start." The Circus leader turned to her, giving a serious look before smiling. "Regardless, if you don't meet our requirements during testing, you'll have to go."

Eliza felt panic rise in her, but wasn't going to let it get her down just yet. She nodded. "I'll try my best then and give it all I've got!"

"That's the spirit!" Joker cheered her on. "Now, let me get the others and we can get this started!"

Eliza gulped, feeling that panic stir about her once more. This was it; the moment where she would make it or break it. She couldn't end up running home with her tail between her legs, she had no home to run back to anyway.

Joker had arrived back and walked her into the main show tent. There she was greeted all of the other show members. Immediately that sense of panic and nervousness seemed to go away as excitement washed over her. Looking at how they were all dressed, she somehow felt this was where she was meant to be.

"Listen up, everyone!" Joker called out, waiting as everyone quieted down. "We have a new addition to our family and today we are going to test out her skills." He gave her a gentle push forward. "Go on, introduce yourself to everyone!"

Eliza waved to them all, smiling brightly. "Hello everyone, my name is Eliza Bennett. I know I come from a noble family and all, but I wish to join your family and make a new start!"

Everyone looked surprised, some were skeptical, but some applauded her.

"Eliza here will be performing a magic trick for us in hopes to become our Magician." Joker announced, patting her back.

Items were given to her to perform her routine. Taking a breath in and reassuring herself, she began first with the easy stuff like a card game. Joker then started putting harder stuff on her like pulling a rabbit out of a hat, which he wanted to use a real rabbit for. It proved to be a bit complicated for her as the rabbit didn't want to stay still and wanted to bounce about.

Her last trick however, seemed to surprise them as she performed illusion tricks, causing some of them to gasp, not sure of what they were seeing. It was all thanks to Kai and the tricks he would play on her when they were little.

Joker stood up and shouted. "Congratz Eliza, you're Noah Ark Circus' Magician!"

She looked at him, surprised, but smile happily. She let out a sigh of relief.

"And also, from now on you will be leaving the name Eliza Bennett behind. From this day onward you will be known as Sunshine!" Joker winked at her. "You keep smiling and it's contagious." Sunshine blushed a little at his comment. "Now it's time for you to meet some of our members."

A woman with short curly dark brown hair and red eyes walked up to her, giving her a look. "I'm Beast, the animal tamer."

"And I'm Dagger, the knife thrower!" Dagger said, holding up a set of knifes in his hand. The guy had a mix of blond and black in his hair and he was looking to Beast with a look of awe.

"I'm Doll, the tightrope walker." A girl with her hair full of roses that covered one of her eyes said, waving at her. She seemed a bit introverted.

"The big guy over there is Jumbo, he is our fire eater." Joker said, pointing to a bald guy that gave Sunshine an emotionless look. It sent chills down her back.

Suddenly a young girl grabbed Sunshine's wrist. "I'm Wendy and this is my brother, Peter. We are the Trapeze Artists!" Peter looked to her with an annoyed look, unlike his sister.

"Last, but not least, this is Snake, our snake charmer." Joker announced, motioning towards a guy that had snake like scales in his skin and snake's hanging all around him. He had white hair with a cowlick sticking up and golden eyes that seemed to enchant her. Snake looked to her shy, obviously trying to avoid her gaze, but also, reserved.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all!" Sunshine said, bowing to them.

Joker patted her back. "Welcome to the family, Sunshine!"

After practically being dragged to a dressing room with the girls and having them pick out an outfit for her, it was time for rest as Sunshine went to go and find her tent. The girls had settled on a very eccentric outfit for her.

Finally finding her tent which had the name 'Sunshine' on it, she went inside and changed into her sleepwear. As she laid her head down and was getting ready to drift off to sleep, she felt something slither in her sheets. Sunshine jolted out of the bed and pulled back her sheets to see a snake. It sticked it's tongue out and looked up to her. "What on Earth are you doing here? Are you one of Snake's?" She asked it, aloud, as if thinking it would respond.

The snake just continued to look at her, as if it was waiting for something.

Sunshine sighed, giggling. She extended her arm out for it. "Well come on up here and I'll take you back to him." The snake did as told and slithered onto her arm. Sunshine was surprised on how it felt. She had never held a snake before. The poor thing was freezing cold, it was no wonder it decided to hide in the sheets.

Walking out of her tent, she began to walk around and look for Snake's tent. "You know, you guy's aren't as scary as people make you out to be. You're actually kinda cute." Sunshine said, looking to her new snake friend. They were always made out to be evil things that attacked you, but this snake proved to be the opposite.

Suddenly, Sunshine stopped in her tracks noticing that Snake had spotted her. "Hey there, I found this little guy in my bed and thought I should bring him back to you. I don't know how he got out there, but it was freezing cold so I helped warm him up a bit."

She handed the snake back to him as it slithered up to him. 'I didn't mean to scare you, I was just interested in meeting you, but thanks for bringing me back to my master and keeping me warm' says Oscar."

Sunshine blinked at this, giving him a puzzled look. "Did your snake tell you to say that?"

Snake nodded. "Yes."

She giggled, asking. "Do you always talk for your snakes?"

"Sometimes says Emily." This time he spoke in a feminine voice, different from the tone he used to speak to her just now and from the high-pitched one he used for Oscar.

Sunshine finally caught on, understanding it. Each of his snake's spoke to him and he used a different voice to express them. "Ah, I get it now. That's pretty cool! Is it okay if I meet the rest of your friends?"

Snake was surprised, but nodded. Sunshine sat down next to him on his bed as all the other snake's seemed to slither towards her and greet her. Snake helped introduce his friends to her and she got to learn about them very quickly.

He had nine snakes in total; The Boa Constrictor was Webster and the only venomous one of the bunch. Emily was a milk snake with red, yellow and black stripes. Donte was a small blind snake that hide by Snake's ear most of the time. Oscar, the one she found, is a red-tail green rat snake. Goethe was a corn snake, orange and white. Keats was the white snake with red eyes. Wordsworth was a corn snake like Goethe, but had darker colors that made him look Earthy. Wilde was another boa constrictor, and Bronte was a Garter snake.

"Wow," Sunshine exclaimed, looking over all of them, but feeling a little hesitant about Webster. She didn't want to get on his bad side, that was for sure. "You have some pretty unique friends. It's a pleasure to meet you all, I should probably get going though. You need rest." She looked up to Snake and smiled.

Sunshine had made it to the exit of the tent before turning back towards him. "Is it okay if I come back and hang with you all?"

The question took Snake by surprise. He wasn't expecting someone to want to hang out with the likes of him, especially his friends. People typically seemed to steer clear of them. "Yeah, that sounds good says Donte."

And that bright smile came to her face, causing Snake to feel a warm feeling come over him. "Good, I'll see you tomorrow then friends! Good night!"

Snake looked to where she stood, even after she left with surprised yellow eyes. Oscar told him what happened with Sunshine and how the girl was scared at first, but then she accepted the snake, letting him onto her arm and taking him back here.

It surprised him that she even wanted to sit down and get to know the snake's names and their species, much less come back and call them her friends.

It was a new change to how people usually treated snakes.