Summary: Seto Kaiba needs help and then he does something stupid.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-OH!

Dedication: Jehbel! Thank you for proof reading and giving me good ideas :). Archaeologist of Humanity - thank you for being a good sport :)

Seto's Culture Clash

Seto Kaiba was not known for his patience. He was known for his business skills and his proficiency at Duel Monsters. It had become common knowledge that the once Number One duellist had many enemies and few friends, if any. It was also common knowledge that everything he did, he only did for one of two reasons: Because it was profitable for Kaiba Corp. or because it could benefit his little brother, Mokuba.

Right now, for reasons undisclosed, Kaiba Corp. needed a solid Public Relations boost. Under normal circumstances, this would be Mokuba's job. Seto admired his brother's talent for turning a game night with friends into a research session on Kaiba Corp.'s public image. If Mokuba played a video game with the Muto brothers, Joey and Ryou on a Friday night, there was a 99,5 per cent chance, that the younger Kaiba would come up with the perfect media stunt to keep his brother's company out of trouble the following Monday morning. Because of Mokuba's social skills and flair for using gossip to his advantage, Seto Kaiba had never had any need of a PR Department.
Under normal circumstances, Mokuba could handle it on this own.
But these were not normal circumstances.

Mokuba had lost a friend.

There had been a shooting incident at Seto's school. Seto himself had not been present as he had a company to run and could not be bothered to attend the school dance. Everyone else had been there, including the Muto brothers – Mokuba's friends. Atem Muto had shielded his younger brother, Yugi, from two bullets. Atem had died from his injuries. The Kaiba brothers had attended his funeral themselves and after that, Seto had witnessed his little brother change. He didn't play games with his friends anymore. He stuck his nose in his textbooks as soon as he got home from school. During the weekends, Mokuba would just stay at Kaiba Corp. and run some minor tests, or, if he wasn't at Kaiba Corp., he would sit in his room and correct his homework five times over. Everyone was worried about him. Seto was heartbroken.

Normally, Mokuba would do the PR. Normally, he would be cheerful and use his social skills to get a feel for the company's image. But he couldn't do that at the moment. Mokuba was afraid to leave the house. He was afraid to leave Seto. He was sad all the time.

Contrary to popular belief, Seto Kaiba was not heartless. He couldn't ask Mokuba to do his PR for him. Not at this moment. He had to give his brother time to heal.

Seto had to do the PR himself for a change. He needed help.

Emma Schultz was widely know as a woman with a smile as pleasant as a summery perfume and a mind as sharp as a razor blade. Her fingers were dancing across the keyboard of her silver laptop, busily finishing the last details of the monthly newsletter of Schultz Gaming AG. She was slightly annoyed when her phone decided to interrupt her train of thought, but when she saw the name Kaiba Seto on the small screen, she lazily picked up:

"Why are you not sleeping, Seto? It must be at least 11 PM in Japan right now!"

"Thank you for telling me, what time it is in my own country, Emma."

"I'm just concerned. You hardly ever sleep these days."

"The Hell you are. Now, can we discuss business or are you going to be pathetically European and complain that I'm interrupting your after-work beer?"

"Don't insult me. You know I prefer blood red wine."

Kaiba chuckled. He would never admit it to anyone but he actually liked the spunky German duellist. She knew what hard work and late nights felt like. She knew what it meant to be responsible for other people's livelihoods. She knew how to make the hard decisions and was prepared to live with the consequences. He respected Emma for her skills. She had spend her early teens rebuilding the image of father's company after the public disgrace of a lawsuit concerning fraud. The case was purely build on lies and rumours but it had hit the profits hard. Kaiba had not known back when he first duelled her in an international Duel Monsters tournament, but when he learned, he initiated a partnership based on trade between Kaiba Corp. and Shultz Gaming.

They were not close – not like Emma and the Muto brothers – but in situations like this one, Emma Schultz was the closest thing Seto Kaiba had to a friend. As noted, Kaiba Corp. needed a PR boost, and Emma was the best shot that he had.

Emma giggled on her end of the line, taking another sip of her coffee. Anybody else would have taken Kaiba's insults to heart but she knew she did not have to. They had done business together for so long now that they had developed their own sarcastic lingo. The public never understood how the two gaming companies were still trading after all the insults between the Japanese CEO and the German Communications Manager.

"So, Kaiba-san! What can I do for you?"

"Well, Fräulein Schultz…"

Seto Kaiba did not get to finish his sentence before he could hear a vast amount of furious German curses. He was slightly taken aback when, finally, his conversational partner had cooled enough to reply. He had not expected to ever hear the level headed Emma swear in the phone or shout at a business partner…
That was usually his thing.

"Kaiba-kun! How dare you! BAKA! VOLLIDIOT! What the Hell?!"

"What? What did I do?"

"What so you mean, what did you do? You call me three hours before my deadline and you insult me!"

"You spend too much time with those runts. I didn't insult you."

"Oh no?! Then why do you call me something you only call school girls?"

Emma could hardly believe what she had just experienced. She was not sure whether Kaiba had been intentionally rude or if he was just generally bad at understanding foreign languages and cultures. Whatever the reason, it had better be good if she was to continue doing business with his company.

"Pardon me, Emma Schultz, but I don't recall calling an unmarried woman miss to be rude." Kaiba sneered.

"It is if you use Fräulein! How would you feel if an employee used –kun and not –sama?"

"I'd fire him on the spot."

"Then give me one good reason to do business with someone too arrogant to show me the respect of calling me Frau Schultz." Emma hissed between her teeth. The comparison was not completely accurate since there were far too many honorifics in the Japanese language for Emma to remember them all. Still, it served its purpose in silencing the self-sufficient CEO for a little while before he answered:

"I'm… I'm sorry, Frau Schultz. I did not know there was a difference. Please forgive me."

"It's all right, Seto. I just was just shocked you didn't call me Emma, that's all. But FYI, never call someone over 12 years of age Fräulein in my region of Germany. It's considered really rude unless used as an internal joke between friends."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Emma took another sip of her coffee before she asked Kaiba why he had called her to begin with. He told her about the PR problem that Kaiba Corp. faced after the cancellation of this year's Battle City Tournament. It had given them some bad press and the rumours of internal conflict in Kaiba Corp. were beginning to spread like a wildfire.

"Why did you cancel the tournament, Seto? Be honest."

"My school had just been caught in a scene right out of a Stephen King-novel. Atem Muto hadn't even rested in his grave for a week. Was I supposed to carry on as if nothing had happened?"

"No, but postponing would have been an option. Never mind that now, do you want my help with the PR?"

"Yes."

"Okay. I'll deal with the press – but I want something in return. I never work for free."

Kaiba asked her to name a price. She told him exactly what she wanted. It was not something that Seto Kaiba was willing to give. He futilely tried to talk to her sense of good business strategy. Her reasoning with regard to profits. But Emma was stubborn. She was not interested in money. She wanted information. The young CEO from Japan was not known for his patience. He was known for his business skills and his proficiency in Duel Monsters. Unfortunately, Emma Schultz was widely known for her razor sharp mind. She had sensed something in Kaiba at the funeral of the 17 year old Atem Muto.

"If I tell you – will you keep it from the public?"

"Of course Seto! I'm your business partner, not a snitch!"

Seto sighed. He had to pull himself together and take a few deep breaths before he could even say the words. He was not a man to wear his emotions on his sleeve, but he really needed Emma's help. There was no other way. He had to put his darkest thoughts into words.

"What if it's not over? What if this maniac is still out there? What if he targets Mokuba's science fair?"

"Isn't that why you have body guards?"

"Yes. I'm just paranoid."

"Is that why you threatened those journalists with law suits?"

"Yes. If it had been me…. If Mokuba had been in that much pain… I'd…"

"You would want your brother to feel safe and not be bothered by nosy questions." Emma finished the sentence. Kaiba confirmed. This was perfect. This was what it was all about. This was what it was always about. In the end, it all came back to Seto's love for Mokuba. This was perfect. This was an advantage. This gave Emma the tools she needed to help Seto with his PR problem.

"Listen very carefully, Seto. I'm almost out of power, so I'll say this only once!"

As Seto listened to Emma's strategy, he felt stupid for not thinking of it himself. What would this year's tournament mean if the one next year was bigger and held in honour of the King of Games? And surely the public could not hate a young man like Seto Kaiba for taking time off to care for his little brother, who was still in pain and shock after having lost a dear friend? This was not about internal conflict in Kaiba Corp.
This was about brothers.

Okay. I know next to nothing about Japanese culture, and what I know about Germany is limited to where I used to live.

The "Fräulein"-ting is from my own experience. It may differ from region to region.

In other words: This is just a dabble about culture clashes :)

I have a few dabbles in mind, but I'm open to suggestions :)