11-year-old Tanjiro Kamado did not expect to wake up and find four strangers on his doorstep. They were all lying down, unmoving. At first, he thought they were dead, but the one with short blue hair stirred.

"Mom! We have people outside!"

By the time Tanjiro's mother came outside, all four were awake.

"Oh dear, you must be freezing!" Kie Kamado was always kind.

She quickly motioned for them to come inside.

Cinnabar wasn't willing to go inside the house. Not only would that be putting their fellow gems in danger, no matter what they had done, it would probably put these strange creatures that weren't gems but looked like them in danger.

Cinnabar opened their mouth, but Phos beat them to it.

"Oh, we don't feel the cold!"

The purple-eyed creature looked confused. "Don't feel the cold? It's very cold. At least let me give you some clothes!"

Cinnabar suddenly felt very self-conscious. Sure, the creature was wearing more clothes, but was it really that cold? They looked down and saw that their poison was disfiguring the beautiful snow. Was it winter here? That was impossible unless Cinnabar had been out for months since it had been autumn back home. But no, that wasn't the case. Cinnabar had remembered how the little creature with red eyes had called for "Mom". Was that the purple-eyed creature's name?

They were shaken out of their thoughts by Phos.

"Oh, no, we're fine! Besides, Quieta would get mad,"

Quieta? Must be a Lunarian. Cinnabar wasn't surprised that Phos had gotten attached to the enemy.

"Please, I insist,"

"Thanks, Mom! That's your name, right?"

The creature laughed. "No, my name is Kie Kamado. You can call me Ms. Kamado if you want. Tanjiro just calls me Mom because I am his mother,"

Phos looked sheepish. "Oh, sorry, Ms. Kamado,"

"Anyway, what are your names?"

"I'm Phosphophyllite, my friends call me Phos. This is Yellow Diamond, Padparadscha, and Cinnabar,"

"No family name?"

"What's a family name?"

"It's a name your family shares. For example, I am Kie Kamado, Tanjiro is Tanjiro Kamado. We are family so we share a family name,"

"Oh, uh, no family name. May I ask a question?"

"Yes, you may,"

"Are you a human?"

"Er, yes, aren't you?"

"No,"

It suddenly became very awkward.

"Okay, what are you then?"

"Gems, that's why we don't feel the cold,"

"I see,"

After some lengthy introductions, the gems were introduced to the rest of the family. There were Kie and Tanjiro, as well as Nezuko, Hanako, Takeo, Shigeru, and Rokuta. There also used to be the father, Tanjuro, who had died.

Since Phos had explained Cinnabar's condition, it was understood that Cinnabar couldn't touch anyone or go inside the house. When Phos tried to repay Kie's kindness, Kie simply waved them off.

All things considered, the gems were lucky to have a place to stay and clothes to wear so they didn't stand out. There even was glue when one of them got broken. That being said, things weren't always happy.

The one thing Cinnabar hated most about their condition was being useless. Cinnabar was exempt from chores around the house and outside of the house since they couldn't touch anything without poison getting on it. Their gloves had been left behind at their home.

Cinnabar was jealous of Padpa, Phos, and Yellow for being able to help the family. But they didn't want to kill Kie and her family, so they endured in silence.

"Why does Cinnabar not have to do chores?" And that would be Takeo.

"Because Cinnabar has a condition, remember?" Thankfully, Tanjiro was polite enough.

"Aww!"

Cinnabar smiled despite themselves. One day, I'll find a way to be useful.

For two years, all was quiet and peaceful.

But good things weren't meant to last.