Are Chris Brown and Rihanna Sending Love Tweets?

A combination picture shows singers Chris Brown (L) at Game 3 and Rihanna at Game 4 of the NBA basketball finals between the Orlando Magic and the Los Angeles Lakers. (Stringer/Reuters)

Patrick Kevin Day Los Angeles Times

9:19 p.m. EST, December 30, 2011

Chris Brown and Rihanna, whose romance had a spectacularly violent and public flame-out in 2009, appear to be hooking up again -- at least on Twitter.

The singers sent a few public tweets Thursday that seemed to have very specific audiences.

At 4:06 p.m., Brown, who follows Rihanna on Twitter and vice-versa, tweeted, "Love U more than u know!" A minute later, Rihanna tweeted, "I'll always love u #1LOVE."

This isn't the first time the two parties, who have been separated by a court-mandated restraining order that requires Brown stay 50 yards away from Rihanna at all times, have shown signs of looking for a reunion.

On Dec. 15, Chris Brown's mother, Joyce Hawkins, tweeted, "HELLO LADY I MISS YOU AND LOVE YOU!!!!! YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!!"

While that in itself isn't unusual (90% of "Mombreezy's" tweets involve love in some capacity) this one was matched a short time later by Rihanna, who tweeted, "! Miss+Lov e u 2."

Brown and Rihanna's relationship came to a very public end when Brown was arrested on domestic assault charges after an incident with Rihanna, which left her with visible injuries on her face and body. Brown later pleaded guilty to a felony and accepted a plea deal of community service and five years' formal probation. Rihanna has since said she's still a Chris Brown fan.

Will the couple reunite? Not without a return visit to court. The judge's restraining order is in place until 2014.

This article first appeared at latimes.com.