Negative and positive numbers both go into exponents. But if a positive and negative make a negative in multiplication, how come it doesn't make the outcome of a negative exponent negative? The truth is you're really only dividing the base by the exponent (ex: 5^-2 equals 1/25).

When you divide, you make things smaller, you put them into seperate groups. If you think of division this way, this won't so hard for you.