Hinata noticed with her eyes.
They had stayed in the cave a little bit longer, eating berries and other things Shika found while Miko made sure the water was clean.
Someone was coming towards them. They were a little ways off, but that didn't stop them from throwing their things together and getting on a deer trail-as to leave no tracks. They couldn't be sure if they were nin from another village or what. They had stayed at the cave so long no doubt even the most inexperienced could tell someone had lived there.
They crawled into the bushes, squeezing into places only a small child could. They rolled into a gully with tall grass, shielded as it covered them but they could look through.
In the distance, birds took off from trees as someone crossed them.
Judging by Hinata's frantic look, it wasn't good.
It wasn't just somebody passing through. Was it a rescue mission or a search and destroy mission? Root infiltrated ANBU often enough where they could disguise themselves. Two agents, scouts by the look of it, landed silently in a tree on the other side of the river.
Miko started to hyperventilate, hurting her already hurt sides. None of them dared to speak.
She reached out one hand and grabbed Hinata's hand, squeezing her fingers. She wanted to reassure them one last time. She reached out to grab Shikamaru's hand only to realize it wasn't there by his side. It was up in the air, palm full of berries, trying to tempt a deer that was hesitantly steeping out of the undergrowth.
It's nose twitched and it took a few dainty steps forward, gently stopping right in front of his raised hand. Its mouth followed the berries as they descended to the forest floor, leaning down and eating them from right in between Shikamaru and Miko.
The two Root agents in the tree stooped their sweep of the area and just stared at the deer. After a few seconds they nodded to each other and jumped away, leaving them there with the deer.
Genius.
Shikamaru was a genius.
He used the berries to lure the deer out into the open. The deer, in every sense of the word, hid them. It's body hid their's with it's own as it knelt down to eat the berries and its mere presence threw them off their trail. Deer are easily startled creature and a lot of things-including three small noisy children, would have startled it into running away. So the fact that it was their eating Shikamaru's hidden berries sent a clear signal to the Root agents that they weren't in the bushed or in the area.
And so they left.
Saving all three of their lives.
The deer finished the berries and nudged along Shikamaru's side for more, but when it couldn't find any it raised it's majestic head and trotted back onto the path. Miko decided she loved deer.
Shikamaru smiled at them and Miko couldn't help herself. She threw her arms around him and peppered his face with kisses. Hinata giggled at his beet red face.
"You're a genius!" She said.
They got up and brushed the dirt off of themselves. They needed to find food and water again before heading towards Konoha.