Rihanna & Chris Brown -- Together ... Or Not

Sources connected with Rihanna and Chris Brown tell us there's friction in the two camps -- over whether Rihanna and Brown should be seen in public together.

Rihanna's people are on high alert to make sure no one gets a photo of the alleged victim and the alleged felon together. They believe at this point it would be "extremely damaging" to her career. That may explain why we got video a few hours ago of Rihanna leaving a club at 4:00 AM without Brown.

On the other hand, Brown's peeps want nothing more than the shot showing that they're tight.

And then there's this ... a number of people who interact with Rihanna both personally and professionally want her to cut Brown out of her life for good. They resent him and are outraged at what he did.

Relationships are complicated.