Wrong Apartment

By Bashfulglowfly

5:15 p.m.

Iruka Umino stared around the apartment, in shock, as he dialed his fiancé.

"Hey, baby, what's up?"

Iruka's voice shook "Kashi, someone broke into our apartment and cleaned it!"

888888

Six hours earlier

Naruto Uzumaki double checked the address then lifted up the mat in front of the door.

The key was exactly where the client said it was.

He unlocked the door, moved his equipment inside then shut the door behind him.

A small pug in a crate softly woofed at him.

"Oh! I wasn't told about you!" Naruto walked over, crouched door and pressed his hand against the cage door for the dog to sniff. He could see that the dog had pooped in the cage. "Let's get that cleaned up for you!" Carefully he opened the cage door, catching the pug before he was able to escape into the apartment. After a quick look, Naruto saw that the dog hadn't gotten poop all over himself and put him down on the floor.

The dog sniffed at Naruto's cleaning supplies, sneezed then jumped up onto the couch to watch.

Naruto laughed as he quickly cleaned out the cage. "I was not told about you, but I will tell you that the products I use are completely safe for use around pets."

The pug woofed again.

"Well, thank you! I wish I knew your name, seems rather disrespectful to not call you by it." Standing up, he gave the dog a quick scratch and got down to work.

Naruto had started cleaning houses and offices to help out a foster parent when he was fourteen. When he aged out of the System at eighteen, he started his own cleaning business since that was something he knew about, and cleaning properties was something he could work around his own school schedule.

Now at the age of twenty-four and a college graduate, he had more clients than he could really take care of on his own. He was seriously thinking about hiring people to help him, but he was having difficulty deciding if he wanted to do that or just not accept new clients. He knew he had trust issues and was concerned that someone else wouldn't pay attention to the details like he would or that an employee would break the trust that clients had in him by stealing from them. He'd have to pay for background checks and all sorts of extra expenses. It was a matter of sitting down and figuring out everything to see if it would be worth the cost.

He started in the main bathroom, then worked his way through the main bedroom, the guest bathroom and bedroom, through the living room and into the kitchen. Periodically, he checked on the pug to make sure he was okay.

He washed the dishes that were in the sink and set them to dry in the dish basket, cleaned the counters then swept and mopped the floor. As he was putting his equipment away to leave, he spotted a jar that said 'treats.' He scooped up the pug who was still sitting on the couch and gave it to him. Hearing the text alert on his phone go off, Naruto sat down on the couch, placed the pug in his lap, retrieved his phone and looked at the message.

Hi. Did you clean my apartment?

Just finished. I'm petting your dog at the moment.

…I don't have a dog…

Naruto stared at the text for a moment then looked at the pug who was staring up at him. "If she doesn't have a pug, then who's apartment am I in?"

The pug scratched behind his ear.

"Not helpful, dude!" Naruto texted back after double checking the address. You live at 4352 Leaf Blvd Apt. 52, correct?

OMG! OMG! That's my OLD apt.! So sorry!

Naruto stared at the phone, started at the pug who was demanding more scritches then looked around the new clean apartment. "Oh. Fuck!"

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Kakashi Hatake rushed home from the police department where he worked to find his beloved Iruka standing out in the hallway outside their new apartment clutching Pakkun in his arms.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, but why would someone break into our apartment and clean it? That's just…weird."

"Yeah." Kakashi turned and looked at the door. No signs of someone forcing the lock. He pulled his service weapon from its holster. "Wait here." And carefully entered the apartment. He thoroughly searched the apartment and found nothing. No humans hiding in a closet or under the bed, nothing missing at first glance.

As he walked back into the living room, something on the kitchen counter caught his eye. A colorful sheet of paper that had been folded in half and stood, tented, on the granite. Picking it up, he saw that it was a flyer for a cleaning service. Flipping it over, he found a hand-written note. With a raised eyebrow, he read:

Dear homeowner,

My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I am the owner of Uzumaki cleaning.

I cleaned your apartment today by mistake. I was given your address by a new client who forgot her new address and gave me her old one which is now yours.

Your dog did poop in his cage. I cleaned that up and let him out while I cleaned. I did give him one treat. He tried to extort more out of me but I resisted. He is super cute though.

You will find the key to the apartment under the mat outside.

If you have any questions, you can call me at the number on the flyer.

Very sorry for any scare or inconvenience.

Sincerely,

Naruto Uzumaki

"Iruka, it's safe. Come on in." Kakashi called.

Iruka stepped through the door, shut it behind him and set Pakkun down on the floor. The pug immediately went to the counter and stared at his treat jar.

Kakashi laughed "You got the housekeeper to give you one and now you think I need to give you one?"

Pakkun woofed sharply.

Kakashi laughed and shook his head, opened up the treat jar and tossed one to Pakkun who snagged it easily.

"Housekeeper?" asked Iruka.

"Read the back." Kakashi handed over the flyer, walked to the front door, opened it, and retrieved the key from under the mat.

Iruka stared at him in shock "There was a key to our apartment under the mat?!"

"Read the note."

Iruka read the note. "Naruto Uzumaki…the name seems familiar. I think I may know him. He might have been one of the other foster kids in a home I was assigned to when I was a teenager." Iruka looked around the living room and kitchen. "He did do a good job." He said hesitantly.

Kakashi nodded. "Take a look at the rest of the apartment. We're both pretty busy, so if you want to hire him…"

Iruka ran a finger across the writing on the paper. "Let me think about it. But we should at least call him and let him know that we're not angry. He's probably worried about being sued or arrested."

"Good idea." Kakashi wrapped an arm around Iruka's waist, pulling him in for a thorough kiss as Pakkun curled up on his favorite couch cushion.