diff --git a/libp2p/io/abc.py b/libp2p/io/abc.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eea7b72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libp2p/io/abc.py
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
+
+
+class Closer(ABC):
+    async def close(self) -> None:
+        ...
+
+
+class Reader(ABC):
+    @abstractmethod
+    async def read(self, n: int = -1) -> bytes:
+        ...
+
+
+class Writer(ABC):
+    @abstractmethod
+    async def write(self, data: bytes) -> int:
+        ...
+
+
+class WriteCloser(Writer, Closer):
+    pass
+
+
+class ReadCloser(Reader, Closer):
+    pass
+
+
+class ReadWriter(Reader, Writer):
+    pass
+
+
+class ReadWriteCloser(Reader, Writer, Closer):
+    pass
diff --git a/libp2p/io/exceptions.py b/libp2p/io/exceptions.py
index 6e1376f..b8e4e01 100644
--- a/libp2p/io/exceptions.py
+++ b/libp2p/io/exceptions.py
@@ -1,7 +1,17 @@
 from libp2p.exceptions import BaseLibp2pError
 
 
-class MsgioException(BaseLibp2pError):
+class IOException(BaseLibp2pError):
+    pass
+
+
+class IncompleteReadError(IOException):
+    """
+    Fewer bytes were read than requested.
+    """
+
+
+class MsgioException(IOException):
     pass
 
 
diff --git a/libp2p/io/msgio.py b/libp2p/io/msgio.py
index 65fde68..4c23ef2 100644
--- a/libp2p/io/msgio.py
+++ b/libp2p/io/msgio.py
@@ -1,24 +1,92 @@
-from libp2p.network.connection.raw_connection_interface import IRawConnection
+"""
+``msgio`` is an implementation of `https://github.com/libp2p/go-msgio`.
 
-from .exceptions import MissingLengthException, MissingMessageException
+from that repo: "a simple package to r/w length-delimited slices."
+
+NOTE: currently missing the capability to indicate lengths by "varint" method.
+"""
+# TODO unify w/ https://github.com/libp2p/py-libp2p/blob/1aed52856f56a4b791696bbcbac31b5f9c2e88c9/libp2p/utils.py#L85-L99  # noqa: E501
+from typing import Optional, cast
+
+from libp2p.io.abc import (
+    Closer,
+    ReadCloser,
+    Reader,
+    ReadWriteCloser,
+    WriteCloser,
+    Writer,
+)
+from libp2p.io.utils import read_exactly
 
 SIZE_LEN_BYTES = 4
-
-# TODO unify w/ https://github.com/libp2p/py-libp2p/blob/1aed52856f56a4b791696bbcbac31b5f9c2e88c9/libp2p/utils.py#L85-L99  # noqa: E501
+BYTE_ORDER = "big"
 
 
-def encode(msg_bytes: bytes) -> bytes:
+async def read_length(reader: Reader) -> int:
+    length_bytes = await read_exactly(reader, SIZE_LEN_BYTES)
+    return int.from_bytes(length_bytes, byteorder=BYTE_ORDER)
+
+
+def encode_msg_with_length(msg_bytes: bytes) -> bytes:
     len_prefix = len(msg_bytes).to_bytes(SIZE_LEN_BYTES, "big")
     return len_prefix + msg_bytes
 
 
-async def read_next_message(reader: IRawConnection) -> bytes:
-    len_bytes = await reader.read(SIZE_LEN_BYTES)
-    if len(len_bytes) != SIZE_LEN_BYTES:
-        raise MissingLengthException()
-    len_int = int.from_bytes(len_bytes, "big")
-    next_msg = await reader.read(len_int)
-    if len(next_msg) != len_int:
-        # TODO makes sense to keep reading until this condition is true?
-        raise MissingMessageException()
-    return next_msg
+class MsgIOWriter(Writer, Closer):
+    write_closer: WriteCloser
+
+    def __init__(self, write_closer: WriteCloser) -> None:
+        super().__init__()
+        self.write_closer = write_closer
+
+    async def write(self, data: bytes) -> int:
+        await self.write_msg(data)
+        return len(data)
+
+    async def write_msg(self, msg: bytes) -> None:
+        data = encode_msg_with_length(msg)
+        await self.write_closer.write(data)
+
+    async def close(self) -> None:
+        await self.write_closer.close()
+
+
+class MsgIOReader(Reader, Closer):
+    read_closer: ReadCloser
+    next_length: Optional[int]
+
+    def __init__(self, read_closer: ReadCloser) -> None:
+        # NOTE: the following line is required to satisfy the
+        # multiple inheritance but `mypy` does not like it...
+        super().__init__(read_closer)  # type: ignore
+        self.read_closer = read_closer
+        self.next_length = None
+
+    async def read(self, n: int = -1) -> bytes:
+        return await self.read_msg()
+
+    async def read_msg(self) -> bytes:
+        length = await self.next_msg_len()
+
+        data = await read_exactly(self.read_closer, length)
+        if len(data) < length:
+            self.next_length = length - len(data)
+        else:
+            self.next_length = None
+        return data
+
+    async def next_msg_len(self) -> int:
+        if self.next_length is None:
+            self.next_length = await read_length(self.read_closer)
+        return self.next_length
+
+    async def close(self) -> None:
+        await self.read_closer.close()
+
+
+class MsgIOReadWriter(MsgIOReader, MsgIOWriter, Closer):
+    def __init__(self, read_write_closer: ReadWriteCloser) -> None:
+        super().__init__(cast(ReadCloser, read_write_closer))
+
+    async def close(self) -> None:
+        await self.read_closer.close()
diff --git a/libp2p/io/utils.py b/libp2p/io/utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1a6e0a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libp2p/io/utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+from libp2p.io.abc import Reader
+from libp2p.io.exceptions import IncompleteReadError
+
+DEFAULT_RETRY_READ_COUNT = 100
+
+
+async def read_exactly(
+    reader: Reader, n: int, retry_count: int = DEFAULT_RETRY_READ_COUNT
+) -> bytes:
+    """
+    NOTE: relying on exceptions to break out on erroneous conditions, like EOF
+    """
+    data = await reader.read(n)
+
+    for _ in range(retry_count):
+        if len(data) < n:
+            remaining = n - len(data)
+            data += await reader.read(remaining)
+        else:
+            return data
+    raise IncompleteReadError({"requested_count": n, "received_count": len(data)})
diff --git a/libp2p/network/connection/raw_connection_interface.py b/libp2p/network/connection/raw_connection_interface.py
index 25b90ae..94951af 100644
--- a/libp2p/network/connection/raw_connection_interface.py
+++ b/libp2p/network/connection/raw_connection_interface.py
@@ -1,21 +1,9 @@
-from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
+from libp2p.io.abc import ReadWriteCloser
 
 
-class IRawConnection(ABC):
+class IRawConnection(ReadWriteCloser):
     """
     A Raw Connection provides a Reader and a Writer
     """
 
     initiator: bool
-
-    @abstractmethod
-    async def write(self, data: bytes) -> None:
-        pass
-
-    @abstractmethod
-    async def read(self, n: int = -1) -> bytes:
-        pass
-
-    @abstractmethod
-    async def close(self) -> None:
-        pass
diff --git a/libp2p/security/base_session.py b/libp2p/security/base_session.py
index 2d76198..a7df0e9 100644
--- a/libp2p/security/base_session.py
+++ b/libp2p/security/base_session.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ class BaseSession(ISecureConn):
         self.remote_permanent_pubkey = None
 
         self.conn = conn
-        self.initiator = self.conn.initiator
+        self.initiator = peer_id is not None
 
     async def write(self, data: bytes) -> None:
         await self.conn.write(data)
diff --git a/tests/security/test_secio.py b/tests/security/test_secio.py
index 673cbc5..ca48c23 100644
--- a/tests/security/test_secio.py
+++ b/tests/security/test_secio.py
@@ -20,11 +20,12 @@ class InMemoryConnection(IRawConnection):
 
         self.closed = False
 
-    async def write(self, data: bytes) -> None:
+    async def write(self, data: bytes) -> int:
         if self.closed:
             raise Exception("InMemoryConnection is closed for writing")
 
         await self.send_queue.put(data)
+        return len(data)
 
     async def read(self, n: int = -1) -> bytes:
         """