The ryokan in Nikko was beautiful, small, picturesque, and nestled in the mountains, away from the larger resorts. Somehow, the presence of UK Crush had been kept secret, and there were no hordes of girls waiting to meet us when we arrived, film crew and all. It was full summer, greenery everywhere, the cicadas deafening, and there was a bamboo thicket surrounding the entire compound, which rustled in the slight, moist breeze. In the distance, a large koi pond sat still and green under the hot sun, with water lilies and lotus blossoms that were so large they looked waxen and fake. It was so hot that I couldn't believe it was actually cooler than Tokyo, but the beauty of the place alone would have made it worth visiting.

We were traveling light, with most of the tour going straight on to Tokyo. Because there was no show here, no crew was required; only me, the boys, a few management people and, of course, the film crew. We were given beautiful Japanese style veranda rooms with sliding doors opening to reveal hallways open to the outside. We had views of the pond, and barely visible in the distance, a little bridge arched over it, with a path leading to the wooded park beyond.

There was a traditional Japanese dinner scheduled for tonight, for which the boys would dress in kimonos, where they would be treated to a show of traditional Japanese music performed on the koto, shamisen and shakuhachi. Tomorrow was to be a total relaxation day for them: Yoga, meditation, full body massage, followed by mud baths. The day was planned as an endless orgy of body love to prepare them for the last push of the tour.

We spent the afternoon relaxing before the five o'clock call to dress for the evening's festivities. I would obviously have to stick close to them, since all of the dressing would be done by professional Japanese dressers. I didn't think there would be a lot of make-up involved, so I was surprised to see two women there with complete cosmetic boxes and hair kits, motioning me into another room. Were they going to do Japanese period hair on these boys? They would look ridiculous.

The women were motioning me into a chair. Me?

"Please sitting chair," one of the women said charmingly to me. "Time for putting make-up," she continued.

"Oh no," I said in Japanese. "I don't need make up. I'm their interpreter. I won't be on camera." I stepped back.

"Your Japanese is wonderful," she responded in Japanese. "But I'm sure we were told to do full hair and make-up on you also. And we brought a kimono, too." She gestured behind her, to where a beautiful summer kimono hung on a special hanger.

"Just a minute please, I'll find someone and figure this out," I said, going in search of Betsey.

I found her going over some paperwork in her room "Can you believe this bloody heat?" she commented as I entered her room.

"Bets, there are two women down there who think they're supposed to make me up for tonight? Um, that's wrong, right? I'm not going to be on camera for the dinner and performance thing?"

"Yeah, Love, that's right, they decided last week that just having the lads in dark kimonos or whatever would look sort of drab, so having a lady in a brightly colored kimono would add a bit of color and interest and that." She turned a page, and scratched something out with her pen. "Plus, you're a nice looking girl, it'll be pleasant to have something pretty to look at. Won't it be a treat to get dressed up for once, instead of always blending with the potted plants?"

"Well, no one told me," I said lamely. "I didn't know anything about it."

"Does it matter?" She looked at me. "I mean, you have to be there, surely what you're wearing doesn't make much difference, does it? Why? Is there a problem? Tell me, love, is something wrong?"

I looked at her. There was no reason to make her worry. "No, of course not. I just wanted to make sure there was no mistake. No big deal. Sorry to interrupt you." I turned to go, already feeling nervous about the attention that would be on me.

"See you tonight, love." She was already back at her paperwork.

I asked my make-up and wardrobe ladies if we could at least get my preparations done in the same room as the boys, since it was my job to translate for them, so we gathered everything up and went back into the other, bigger room. The boys were in their chairs, getting their complexions evened out before starting the arduous process of getting the kimonos put on them.

They watched me get settled in a chair with curiosity. It was Ronan, of course, who spoke first.

"Oi, Tink, what are you doing?" He called from his chair.

"Apparently the powers that be have decided for tonight's filming they want a little more color than four men in dark kimonos, so they want me in full Japanese kimono and make-up regalia," I informed them. "Lucky me, I guess I'm going to be in the movie after all. Hopefully, with all the make-up on, no one will recognize me."

Teddy, who was next to me, looked at me in the mirror. "You don't want to do this?"

I looked back at him. "Not particularly. I don't really like being on display, as you know, unless it's in a swim suit," I smiled.

He smiled back at me. "You'll get through this. We'll all be there with you. I think the biggest issue tonight is going to be this bloody heat."

****************

An hour later, the ladies were finished, and I was pleasantly surprised. I had expected the typical Japanese white face powder, with the heavy red lips and bright red cheeks; instead, I had a very subtle make-up such as I could have expected from the scary but nice Melanie herself. They had done something nice to deepen the look of my eyes, lengthening my lashes and contouring my eyebrows, somehow making them look both more Asian and more Caucasian at the same time. They were both extremely pleased with themselves, clapping and congratulating each other on their work.

The boys had long since finished dressing, laughing at each other about getting their toes into their tabi, the Japanese socks with the divider between the big toe and the second toe, made to wear with geta, the traditional wooden shoe. My two dressers, Kaori-san and Chie-san, had kicked them out, saying they could see me when I was dressed. They were hanging around in the breezeway outside my door, sliding around in their tabi and making noise like a bunch of schoolboys. Of course my dressers thought they were adorable, and wanted to know if any of them was my boyfriend. When I answered in the negative, Kaori-san said she could tell that the one with the long hair liked me very much just by the way he smiled at me.

I held my arms out as they finished wrapping my obi around my waist. It felt like I had a concrete girdle wrapped around me. And this was the lighter summer outfit. How did the Japanese women of yore stand it?

It was nearly 6:30, and dinner was scheduled to begin at 7:00; how on earth were they going to finish putting my hair into that crazy Japanese up-do in thirty minutes? I asked, and they said because I looked so young they had decided to leave my hair down, and do something simple with it. Hallelujah.

*****************

Twenty minutes and much calling of "Tink!" and "Birdie!" through the door later, Kaori-san and Chie-san slid open the door and said, "Omachidosama!" which roughly translated to, "Thank you for waiting so patiently!" And I stepped through, taking tiny steps, which was really the only way to walk when wearing a kimono.

Gethin stepped forward, took my hand, and gave me a slow twirl so they could admire me from all sides. For once, even Ronan was speechless, and it was Teddy who finally said, "Blimey. Like an Asian bird of paradise. Wow."

It was a truly beautiful kimono, in pinks and pale lavenders, gorgeous summer colors, with a pale obi, all of it in the same color palette as my make up. My hair, which fell midway down my back, had been pulled away from my face into a couple of braids which were gathered together with some pink and lavender ribbons and left loose to mix with the long hair. Of course the fine hairs around my ears and neck had already begun to curl in the humidity, but far from detracting from the hairdo, it softened the effect and gave the whole thing a dreamy look. Looking in the mirror before I'd come out, I felt I'd never looked so beautiful, and this feeling was reflected back to me four times in chocolate brown, cobalt blue, jade green, and powder gray.

The boys looked unusually serious and grown up in their kimonos, once all of their frat boy antics had stopped. Their dark garb made them seem more formal, somehow, almost stern, really framing their features.

The two women just stood back, admiring their handiwork, smiles on their faces, watching the boys.

Suddenly Matty seemed to come to life. "Would you take our picture?" he asked the two women, pulling his phone out of his obi. Then each boy wanted one with just me, so the ladies had to do that as well; by the time all the picture taking was over, we were of course running late.

Betsey came running to fetch us, and we were thanking the ladies over our shoulders as she hustled us up to the dinner and show, where everyone was waiting.